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Quest for truth, trust can take many paths, new forms By Cathy Cañares Yamsuan @KatyYam
Our business group is now exposed to more feedback from the market. With greater alignment between the business group and the newsroom, there can be more innovation and focus
Journalism, the kind that aspires to rise above today’s dangerous tide of fake news, clickbaits and social media trolling, is more than just a race for “likes” or a magnet for smileys (or snarleys). It is mindful of the readers’ need not always for speed but for reliable content amid the clutter of choices, and of constantly earning their trust. Technology has changed the Philippine media landscape, Inquirer president and CEO Rudyard Arbolado says, and from where he sits (nowadays usually at home, his two small kids flitting about behind him during Zoom meetings), earning that
Rudyard Arbolado
Volt Contreras
fragile trust is now a two-fold mission involving content and distribution, with the use of the right tools to make sure this happens. For executive editor Volt Contreras, the quest for trust is advanced also on two fronts:
the Inquirer being a watchdog, with its grit rooted in its “mosquito press” days before Edsa 1986 and increasingly tested across 36 years of news coverage and commentary; and the Inquirer being a welcoming place, an open plaza for both
those who demand solutions and those who offer some. “We cannot be blind to what the readers expect from us,” says Arbolado, a lawyer-accountant who’s been in the management team since 2007 and who took the helm in 2021. “Content should be relevant and address the readers’ needs. It should not just give updates on the day’s issues but also provide a helpful perspective, because nobody will read us if they cannot relate to what we write. We need to do more. They are actually telling us: Inspire me, educate me, divert me [to new, useful stuff].” Contreras, who first wrote for the Inquirer as a student correspondent, formally en-
tered its workforce as a proofreader, reported from the field, and now oversees the daily newsroom operations, sees readers as having varying needs that can be met with the right thrust and mix of stories. Game changer ‘’We can be both a Liwasang Bonifacio for the citizen and, one jeepney ride away, a Divisoria for the consumer, so to speak, for truth seeking and for trendspotting,” he says. “In both respects, the newspaper strives to provide engaging and—as a speaker put it in one of those endless webinars I have attended about ensuring the ‘survival’ of print—‘high-calorie’ content.”
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Quest for truth, trust can take many paths, new forms FROM D1 Distributing such content through various platforms and in different formats has become a game changer. Inquirer stories have to be available, for example, “where readers are consuming their news,” Arbolado says from his end. The Inquirer took steps in that direction as early as a decade ago. Aside from Inquirer.net, the news website of the Inquirer Group of Companies, the newspaper has enhanced its online presence through the mobile app InquirerPlus, which offers paying subscribers not just a handy digital replica of the “dyaryo” but also news, features and infographics not found on the free website or in the P20 print copy. The app has been available since 2011 but fresh innovations and offerings—including bundled subscription packages with eight regional papers in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao—were introduced during the COVID-19 quarantines that restricted the movement of people and goods (newspapers included). Through the Inquirer’s e-commerce shop, Arbolado says, enjoying InquirerPlus should be “as easy as subscribing to Netflix.” “But for a digital news product to be successful, one of its attributes should be excellent content to persuade the user to pay for the news,” he says. “Our business group is now exposed to more feedback from the market. With greater alignment between the business group and the newsroom, there can be more innovation and focus.” Teamwork Certain fruitful ideas that gave rise to multiplatform content can be traced to that teamwork, Arbolado notes. Business
CURBS AS CATALYST The lockdowns proved to be a catalyst for both the Inquirer newsroom and business group to find new ways to enhance reader experience. Clockwise from right: The Stands sports newsletter, the improved InquirerPlus app and the Project Rebound webinars. editor Tina Arceo-Dumlao, for example, provided the spark for Project Rebound, the Inquirer’s livestreamed webinar series in which experienced leaders and innovators in various industries and professions share insights on how local businesses can recover from the heavy toll of the pandemic. “The idea came from Tina. And the business team was there and we conceptualized it—how to help the [micro, small, medium-scale enterprises] during the pandemic—and it became Project Rebound. It’s that kind of approach,” Arbolado says. Project Rebound has so far livestreamed 11 of the 48 webinars that the Inquirer Group has hosted since the pandemic began. Another idea came from Contreras himself. The bitesize information featured in the newspaper’s Numbers That Matter and Did You Know segments were converted to social media
snack cards, “so the material now satisfies two formats—print and video,” Arbolado says. I’ve seen some examples of really interesting videos based on those two, like how many local government units are there, how many barangay, provinces, cities ... , the number of people who got married during the pandemic. You have a video format that runs for 35, 40 seconds. Taking an extra step [and] turning [print material] into another medium, we capture a wider market,” he says. A special supplement on clean energy was another concept that began with a suggestion from the executive editor, Arbolado recalls: “From just two stories [originally planned], we were able to generate additional pages and expand the reportage on an industry that would most likely be crucial in the next decade or so—renewable energy.’’ Social media cards and short videos were
also produced based on this special project. The newspaper’s Property section also stepped up to the plate with its own webinar series on the challenges and opportunities in Philippine real estate. Getting into inboxes Newsletters are a relatively new addition to the Inquirer menu. Intended as a separate product for readers who want a quick overview of the day’s news, the newsletters offered by the different sections “allow [the newspaper] to get into readers’ inboxes which are considered valuable space,” Arbolado says. They also serve as a “top funnel for acquiring trial users” and are considered “wheels of innovation” that allow the company to try new ideas.
The Get Up & Move newsletter, for example, allows readers to begin a fitness routine and guides them through the process of becoming healthier. Arbolado especially cites the newsletter The Stands, which Sports editor Francis T.J. Ochoa converted into “a daily journal containing the highlights of the day” when he was covering the Tokyo Olympics, and which took the game a step further by providing stories and photos not found on other Inquirer channels or products. “Inquirer.net and Inquirer Mobile acted as amplification channels. As a result, Inquirer. net’s views and users grew by around 200 percent compared to the previous 30 days,” Arbolado recalls, adding that the Inquirer’s sports Viber community “grew its base by more than 550 percent and engagement by almost 450 percent” during that period. “The Tokyo coverage was proof of the multiplatform power of the Inquirer Group,” says Arbolado. “It offered a glimpse of what we can do if all of the business units cooperated: There will be incremental growth for everyone. The Inquirer created the content and led the innovation efforts, produced 90 stories on print and additional stories for Inquirer Plus, and partnered with PumaPodcast for five episodes of the Olympics sports podcast.” Connection Arbolado raises the “need to connect with readers” who, he says, “have a way of sending feedback to us.” “That means we offer stories intended to meet their various needs. The most obvious would be to update them with current news and commentary, or keep them abreast with lifestyle trends,” he says. “But what about inspiration? Do we include a daily dose of inspiration
in our lineup of stories? Do we consider ourselves educators as well? To stay relevant can be a daily struggle; we also have to address the readers’ needs even in those aspects.” And ultimately, it boils down to trust. Sacrificing quality in pursuit of reach is not a consideration, Arbolado says. Indeed, quality is the “inherited ideal” that this newspaper of 36 years strives to maintain in its daily coverage and curation. Says Contreras: “We in the newsroom, and our reporters, correspondents and photojournalists out in the field today owe it heavily to those who came before us and set the bar high. I personally am just lucky to be surrounded, literally, by great mentors, starting with then editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, when I was moved to the desk in 2007. To this day I go about the task with this deep sense of gratitude.” In the end, the talent and the heart nurtured in the company using available tools are what matter, Arbolado says. “What kind of knowledge transfer do we implement to make sure the next generation of our journalists would have the same skills and values? Do we provide them with the proper tools or recognize the technology that can improve our journalism?” And speaking of heart, Arbolado fondly recalls how staff members pushed for the newspaper’s medical assistance segment, Intensive Care Corner, to be promoted aggressively on Viber, “where we are the strongest [Philippine] media brand.” Intensive Care Corner appeals for donations on behalf of indigent patients. “A small thing, but it shows the right heart, a sense of purpose, and it results in concrete action. It allows us to be more trustworthy and aligned with our objectives,” he says. INQ
GOING BEYOND THE PANDEMIC NEWS CYCLE
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: DEEP DIVES, SPECIAL REPORTS Producing up to a dozen special reports during a pandemic is no mean feat, but the Inquirer did it. As Metro Manila came under varying levels of lockdowns, our reporters not only chased stories for the daily news cycle but also took deep dives into issues stemming from the health crisis, such as distance learning and labor problems. Outside the COVID-19 reportage, there were also special reports on the Taal Volcano eruption, the scourge of climate change, wildlife trafficking, the plight of Marawi evacuees, the Mindanao peace process, and the boon of solar power to indigenous communities. Most of the work was done through interviews by phone or Zoom, but some assignments required a trek to the mountains or a rebel camp. Riders are employees, too While working on a story on the layoff of employees of a multinational tobacco company, business reporter Roy Stephen Canivel saw a Facebook video of the union’s president choking back tears as he talked about a layoff and their negotiation for a generous separation package. “After that video, it really left an impression on me that a union is important because they were able to ask for a more dignified exit. So, when I read about LalaFood drivers, I wondered: ‘What’s gonna happen to them? They had no union, because they were not regular employees, and therefore, they were not entitled to a separation pay,’” he said. Since he had to work from home, Canivel did the next best thing—join the Facebook
groups of LalaFood delivery riders. That’s how he got them for interviews. Talking online or by phone, however, meant losing the spontaneity and nuances of a face-to-face interview. For Canivel, this was one of the biggest changes in his reporting during the pandemic. “It’s hard to tell if someone is teary-eyed when you interview them on the phone. So, in that sense, some details that could have made the story more human didn’t reach print,” he said. Online learning woes As a relatively new reporter on the education beat, Meg Adonis said it was challenging to understand the numbers behind the struggle of public school students. “How do you visualize 54.7 percent of students whose mental and physical health were adversely affected by the challenges of distance learning? On top of this, millions of children and adolescents were missing the chance to interact with their peers, which is crucial for their development,” she said. Their parents shared experiences with anxiety and panic attacks as they waited for the list of failing students while their children skipped meals and cried at night, Adonis said. Teachers were having a hard time as well. One who Adonis interviewed via Zoom was in a nipa hut because it was the only spot near her home where there was stable internet connection. “It was a challenge to speak with her given the limitations of virtual ‘meetups,’ so I could
Partida, naka ’WORK FROM HOME’ pa yan!
only imagine how difficult it was for her to speak to 30 students at one time,” she said. For Adonis, these were “difficult stories to hear and digest” in front of a computer that felt far too detached and impersonal. Desperate to return home Divina Suson has been covering Marawi long before Islamic State-inspired militants occupied the city in 2017. But she never saw the things she did during siege: the mass evacuations, the rescue of trapped civilians and hostage victims, the child warriors and the firefights. “As a mother myself, I was deeply affected by the story of a woman who lost her three children during the siege. As I tracked her whereabouts two years later, I learned that she died in a vehicular accident in Cebu where she sought the help of friends and relatives so she could rebuild her ‘sari-sari’ store,” she said.
After the five-month war ended, Suson focused on the problems of rebuilding the city and the plight of the “bakwit,” which were compelling stories to tell as well. “I hope my reporting contributes, somehow, to alleviating their hardships in the near future,” she said. Ryan Rosauro, who collaborated with Suson on the special report, said he wanted “a definitive story on the state of Marawi rebuilding, a reality check on the pronouncements of government officials as well as on the persistence of displaced families to return to their former communities soonest.” Aeta ‘still far from home’ Tonette Orejas wrote the report for the 30th anniversary of Mt. Pinatubo’s June 15, 1991, eruption. But her data gathering began as early as 2018 as she was wrapping up an investigative story on the government’s “very little” reforestation effort around the volcano. For her 2018 story, she had to find Aeta elder Miranda King. Through his grandson, Norman, her search for Miranda ended in Inararo, the nearest village to the Pampanga side of Mt. Pinatubo. “Being a stroke survivor, I chided him for making me trek a long way. But he explained calmly: ‘I returned here because I was away from Apo Namalyari. I wasn’t at peace in the resettlement. I want to be back in the forest and land where Apo Namalyari was.’ And he gave me a cup of instant coffee—his way of making peace with me.” As she came down the mountain, Orejas thought about bigger questions: Is returning
to their ancestral domains the trend now among Aeta? What prompted them to go back and rebuild their old communities? “The three-part report gave the answers but, in the end, the Aeta have only themselves to rely on with the support of very few public officials,” she said. “The people in that story— especially Elsa Novo, Ben Jugatan and his grandson, Tubag, Chito Balintay and Reynaldo Cabalic—affirmed the determination of the people to live amid a continuing disaster and the government’s lack of will to support these indigenous communities who suffered the world’s second worst eruption in the 20th century,” she said. Tribe goes solar Mariejo Ramos and Krixia Subingsubing had to leave home and commute to Tanay, Rizal province, to interview some members of a Dumagat-Remontado indigenous group for a special report. They were able to portray their adoption of renewable energy—solar power—and the impact of a planned dam on their community. Transportation and logistics were challenging enough for field work before the pandemic. The pandemic made it even tougher as they had to prepare for such inconveniences as swab tests, checkpoints and travel requirements. “The threat of the virus has challenged traditional news gathering processes. Do no harm is an important principle that we had to observe in our reporting, including making sure that we follow health protocols before, during and after our fieldwork,” Ramos said.
For Subingsubing, their recent fieldwork was also a mix of joy and anxiety, and a realization that the pandemic was far from over. She said she was reminded that she had a responsibility much bigger than to “do legwork so badly,” and that is to avoid the risk of bringing the virus to a community that lacked access to a hospital. Threat of rising seas In July, for the first time since the world went into lockdown, Jhesset Enano had the opportunity to go out to pursue her story on the threat of the climate crisis and rising seas on vulnerable families near Manila Bay. “Nearly a year and a half reporting from home, I’ve come to experience how different— and more complicated—it is now being out in the field,” she said. “Being out there now requires more minute decision-making, from my own health and physical security to the safety and vulnerabilities of the people whom I speak with. Introductory handshakes turned to polite nods and smiles unseen from behind our masks, and goodbye hugs and pats on the back are reduced to simple waves from afar,” Enano said. After spending three days of fieldwork, she had to go into a full week of isolation away from home and tested negative for the virus. “Despite being more challenging, my experience of returning to the field only stressed upon me how irreplaceable physical presence is, especially in our jobs as storytellers, observers and
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UAAGI flexes its muscles with its back-to-back launch of the all-new Tiggo 2 PRO and MUTT Motorcycles A double-header, indeed! Automotive multi-brand distributor and manufacturer United Asia Automotive Group Inc. (UAAGI) made a bold move on November 26, when it launched the all-new CHERY Tiggo 2 PRO—one of the brand’s best-selling crossover models. UAAGI took the mobility world by surprise by unveiling not just another new variant, but a completely different motoring genre—a new motorcycle brand. And it’s not just another scooter or an underbone bike, it’s a stunning custom vintage-style 250cc motorbike from the iconic British brand, MUTT. “The timing of the twin launches was completely serendipitous. It was very challenging to mount such, which required the production of multiple on-location product videos, test drives by several bloggers and influencers, a virtual press conference with over 60 members of the media, but our team pulled it off,” narrated United Asia Automotive Group Inc. President Erroll Dueñas “More importantly, we were able to communicate our message to the market that UAAGI and its three mobility brands—FOTON, CHERY, and now MUTT Motorcycles—are strong forces to be reckoned with and we are absolutely determined to
make our mark in the market by being a top choice for Filipinos looking not just for high-quality automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles, but industry-leading after-sales service as well,” Dueñas added.
The value-packed all-new CHERY Tiggo 2 PRO delivers European style and technology coupled with Asian reliability, ease of ownership, sportier features, and connectivity. MUTT Motorcycles, on the
other hand, is a Birmingham, UK-bred brand of motorcycle that combines beautiful British custom retro design with unbeatable Japanese motorcycle engine technology and reliability. “We are extremely proud of our all-new CHERY Tiggo 2 PRO and new MUTT Motorcycles line. We can’t wait for the Filipino crossover and motorcycle buyers to experience these two well-engineered products. You’ll be surprised and delighted by what you’ll see after one look or drive. I happily invite you to experience our all-new CHERY Tiggo 2 PRO and MUTT Motorcycles at any of our dealers,” Dueñas exclaimed. For more info, follow CHERY Auto Philippines on social media: Chery Auto Philippines (Facebook) and @ cheryautophilippines (Instagram). You may also call the 24/7 CHERY Auto Philippines hotline at (0917) 552 4379 or email chery@uaagi.com for more inquiries. The first MUTT Motorcycles showroom is now open at Clark, Pampanga. Get to know more about the stylish new MUTT Motorcycles by following https://www. facebook.com/MuttMotorcyclesPhilippines on Facebook and https://www.instagram. com/muttmotorcycles.ph/ Instagram.
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PDI as a newspaper of record By Juliet Labog-Javellana Associate Publisher @julietlabjINQ On Oct. 2, when President Duterte announced that he was “retiring from politics” and not running for vice president in 2022 as his party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan had announced, netizens were struck by a sense of déjà vu. Some posted on social media the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s (PDI) front page on Sept. 8, 2015, which carried the banner “Duterte drops out of race” with a subhead stating: “‘The Punisher’ says he’s retiring from politics.” That was months before the 2016 presidential election, which the former Davao City mayor won
after changing his mind about not running for No. 1. So when the President appeared at the Commission on Elections on Oct. 2 and made the same promise of retiring from politics with his longtime aide Sen. Bong Go running in his place, the Inquirer recorded the moment for posterity on its front page the next day: “Du30 ‘retiring,’ Go for VP—but eyes still on Sara.” ‘Loudest voice’ Last month, of course, the President again changed his mind about retiring, and a filing was made for him to run for senator (with Go upsizing his candidacy to president and the President’s daughter Sara choosing to run for No. 2).
All these illustrate how the Inquirer has performed as a newspaper of record—a credible, authoritative source of reports on significant events, upheavals and turning points in our nation’s history—in much the same way as the venerable US publications The New York Times (NYT) and The Washington Post are cited as newspapers of record for their own reliable and accurate reportage. The renowned media design guru Mario Garcia, who supervised the Inquirer’s redesign in 2016, has extolled the enduring power of print in this rapidly evolving digital age. “The printed front page still carries the loudest voice” is the title of one of Garcia’s blogs in
which he praised the NYT for carrying an editorial on gun violence on its front page—“something I never expected to see in my lifetime,” he said. Garcia quoted Arthur Sulzberger Jr., NYT publisher from 1992 to 2018, as explaining his paper’s rare act: “Even in this digital age, the front page remains an incredibly strong and powerful way to surface issues that demand attention.” Illustrative examples In the Inquirer’s 36 years as a news organization born in 1985 as Filipinos yearned and fought for the return of democracy, it did its part as chronicler of history and the people’s collective mood and aspirations in
significant moments. Perhaps one of the most illustrative examples of the Inquirer’s role as a newspaper of record was when it published portions of the diary of former Sen. Edgardo Angara when he was executive secretary of then President Joseph Estrada. The Angara Diary, as published in the Inquirer in 2001, was cited by the Supreme Court as its basis for ruling that Estrada had “effectively resigned” as president and upholding the succession to the post of then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The high court’s ruling also paved the way for the filing of plunder charges against Estrada, who was convicted but eventually pardoned by Arroyo.
Equally momentous was the Inquirer’s groundbreaking exposé in 2013 on the P10-billion pork barrel scam, which led to the high court declaring the Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers as unconstitutional. As we brace for bruising national elections in a pandemic, those who seek clarity and truth may find something in the Inquirer’s archives of over three decades of reportage on the highest and lowest points of our history. On Feb. 26, 1986, the Inquirer’s banner declared: “It’s all over, Marcos flees”—a sobering flashback as we contemplate the aftermath of Election Day next year. INQ
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: DEEP DIVES, SPECIAL REPORTS FROM D2 listeners. I would not have profoundly understood the threats that Jocel Madrano and her family faced on a daily basis, had I not spent time with them inside their small shack supported by wooden stilts over Manila Bay,” Enano said. “Every day is a reminder that there are more stories to be told, and these are all out there, beyond my laptop screen,” she said. Sexual abuse For Jane Bautista and Fate Colobong, the complex yet extremely important issue of sexual violence has long been reported on. But the problem continues, especially where many children experience sexual exploitation due to poverty. Having a President wellknown for cracking “rape jokes” does not help because instead of condemnation, he receives applause and laughter from his followers. Bautista and Colobong wanted to shed light on the “bigger picture” of sexual abuse and how the cultural and structural norms allowed its perpetuation, not on the sensationalized stories of a father taking advantage of his wife or daughter, or a child being forced to perform sexual acts on camera by her own parents just to earn money. As families were forced to stay at home due to the pandemic’s stringent quarantine restrictions, cases of domestic and sexual violence increased, according to data from the Philippine National Police. The number of child abuse cases increased in just a month after the first lockdown, from 423 in April 2020 to 703 in May 2020—a 66.91-percent rise. The number of child rape cases also rose from 294 to 488 during the same period. “But these numbers and the huge amount of data we gathered and presented in the three-part report are still not enough to give the bigger picture,” Bautista said. A peace-building organization suggested looking into gender-based violence in conflict areas like Bangsamoro. This led to another special report on child marriage and violence against women and children in the Muslim region, “where culture and religion play an important role in how their traditions and norms are shaped,” Bautista said. —WITH A REPORT FROM ANA ROA, INQUIRER RESEARCH INQ
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From Edsa to ICC: An untiring watch
Every administration since 1986 had its share of rogues, butchers and blunderers By Krixia Subingsubing @krixiasINQ When the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran its first issue on Dec. 9, 1985, its then publisher, the late Max V. Soliven, declared that the paper’s founders and staff “[did] not believe that there is such a thing as an ‘alternative press’ as a counterweight to a so-called crony press.” “There is only one kind of journalism, and it is neither alternative nor crony,” Soliven wrote. “It is a journalism that reports the facts, neither tailoring them to suit our friends, nor twisting them to dismay or destroy our enemies.” Surely he was right. But in the context of 1985—at the tail end of Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship—the Inquirer was still very much alternative: one of the
Who knew that, 36 years later, the Inquirer would find itself reporting on the same kind of abuses, under a different leader but said to be cut from the same cloth?
few ways by which people could read the truth about what was happening in the Philippines. Even now, when people talk about the Inquirer in history and media classes, it is always to highlight how the men and women of this paper relentlessly reported on the gross abuses and violations committed by Marcos’ men even at great risk to their lives. These stories helped chip at the dictator’s authority and lent strength to a people hungry for a new government. Relentless coverage Who knew that, 36 years later, the Inquirer would find itself reporting on the same kind of abuses, under a different leader but said to be cut from the same cloth? Not that human rights viola-
tions were magically solved by the Edsa uprising. Every administration since 1986 had its share of rogues, butchers and blunderers that led to unjust arrests, disappearances and deaths. It’s why, in the past 36 years, the Inquirer has closely covered the likes of Antonio Sanchez and Jovito Palparan Jr.; or the massacre of 56 people, including media workers in a town in Maguindanao ruled by a warlord; or the bombing of “lumad” schools and mass displacement of indigenous communities from their ancestral lands. To onlookers, these may appear as nothing more than convicted men and unfortunate tragedies. But the Inquirer recognizes symptoms of a decaying rule of law, and makes sure to headline these stories to keep Filipinos aware and informed.
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY RENE ELEVERA
Since 2016, the newspaper has had to play this role even more vigorously. Shortly after Rodrigo Duterte was elected president on a promise to purge this country of drug users and suppliers, the Inquirer put together the “Kill List” to record the names of those killed under his “war on drugs.” Citations To this day, this list remains among the few independent efforts to document the drug war deaths. It has been cited in local
and international queries into the brutal campaign—including independent reports by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Criminal Court (ICC)—making the paper’s vigorous coverage more visible both here and overseas. Groups like Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International also routinely cite Inquirer stories in their own reports about the drug war. When then ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda
BDO GEARS TOWARDS A POST-PANDEMIC ECONOMY The bank’s products and services focus on elevating customer experience above the norm By Kenneth M. del Rosario As Filipinos prepare to live in a post-pandemic world, companies like BDO are ready to kick things into high gear once more and pick up where they left off before the COVID-19 crisis hit. Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter as the days go by. There’s reason for cautious optimism, too. With the economic impact of the pandemic slowing due to the aggressive vaccination drive, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second and third quarters of 2021 has been promising, a solid sign that the Philippines is steadily entering the post-pandemic era. Unlike previous months where COVID-19 cases reach record highs on a daily basis, there’s a consistent drop from active cases as of late. And if one needs a more tangible proof that the country is slowly going back to normal, one just needs to go on the road where mobility is now just less than 10 percent below pre-pandemic level. Even more good news, inoculation of minors aged 12 to 17 have recently started, and the country is expected to reach herd immunity by mid-2022.
All of these positive developments mean there’s a likelihood of an exponential growth in e-commerce, digital banking, and online delivery services, as people find these platforms convenient, safe and easy to use, and have become part of their daily lives. And while flexible remote work or hybrid work-from-home (WFH) arrangements and virtual meetings may continue, the forecast is that there would be a gradual return to more in-person or on-site activities very soon as herd immunity is achieved and full mobility is restored. When it comes to providing excellent customer experience, BDO has always made sure they go out their way to take care of their clients. The pandemic has sped up the adoption of technology—something that BDO plans on capitalizing on, expanding its digital capabilities to further elevate the customer experience. Early this year, BDO launched its mobile wallet, BDO Pay, as well as re-engineered its operations to allow paperless in-branch transactions, card-less ATM transactions, as well as fully digital account opening. As these are rolled out across the branch network, BDO expects more enhanced product offerings to be launched in 2022. A better 2022 is upon the country, with further economic
reopening due to the continued decline in COVID-19 cases and rising vaccination coverage. The broadening economic activity generates job and income opportunities that support consumption spending. The increased mobility lifts sectors hit hardest by the pandemic such as transport, travel, and tourism. The upbeat global outlook also means good news for OFWs, who have experienced travel restrictions in the past 21 months. BDO knows that they would continue to play an an important role in providing financial products and services in the post-pandemic world. This is why they plan on using technology to deliver even more mainstream products and services using more convenient tech such as biometrics and QR codes. BDO’s physical and digital capabilities, as well as its customer-centricity thrust brings client-bank relationship to a more personal level. From extended banking hours to weekend banking (still unmatched in the industry), from branch expansion efforts in underbanked/underserved markets to multi-channel digital offerings, BDO’s banking products and services are always geared toward elevating customer experience above the norm—and would continue to do so as Filipinos learn to navigate the “better normal.”
BDO Corporate Center in Ortigas
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GOING OFF-GRID, STAYING ON POINT THRU COLLABORATIVE REPORTING By Mariejo S. Ramos @MariejoRamosINQ
By Marlon Ramos @MRamosINQ An unexpected call can be a boon to journalists like me. I was about to turn off my laptop and call it a day when a source phoned and told me about presidential spokesperson Harry Roque losing it during a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). In that meeting on Sept. 7, Roque was fuming mad at the leader of a doctors’ group for urging the IATF to put Metro Manila under the strictest lockdown to minimize the dangers posed by the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19. Only days earlier, President Duterte was praising the medical front-liners as”modern-day heroes” for their sacrifices during the pandemic. “It was really crazy,” the source told me in disbelief. “I’m shocked at how Harry could have said those things. I will send some videos to you. Just watch them. But please don’t share them with anyone.” I then received three video files on Viber. Later the source phoned again to ask: “Did you see how Harry reacted? Is that how we should treat our front-liners?” But what, the source wanted to know, did I intend to do with the videos? Concern was expressed that some government officials might be put in a bad light. At the same time, there was worry about what might happen to me if I wrote about the incident and released the vids. Roque, a former human rights lawyer, later warned that those responsible for sharing footage of the IATF meeting may be held liable for “revealing public secrets.” Viral vid But that night, I told the source: “Don’t worry. Only a few people would watch them. Also, I have many lawyer-friends.” Of course, it was a humblebrag. If a picture paints a thou-
‘SURPRISE GIFT’ The October 2015 oathtaking ceremony of the new members of the Liberal Party in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, came complete with this number by The Playgirls. A Metro Manila official who was then aspiring to be a senator was put on the spot after the Inquirer got it on video and reported on the political sideshow.
OUTBURST A 17-second video of then Palace spokesperson Harry Roque berating officials of the medical community during a Sept. 17 online meeting on the pandemic response has since become one of the Inquirer’s most viral social media posts. sand words, then a video probably provides a million more. About 36 hours after the conversation and after conferring with my editors, I posted the vids of Roque’s outburst on my Twitter account. On that day, Sept. 9, the Inquirer ran the story I wrote on the front page. As expected, the videos became viral within minutes. Deja vu A 17-second footage, the first of the three videos, has since become one of the Inquirer’s most shared social media posts, gaining 22.3 million impressions, 3.9 million views and over 1.2 million in user engagements on Twitter. It was also retweeted more than 46,000 times and had nearly 38,000 likes. But was it mere serendipity? Roque’s viral vids were actually more like deja vu for me. In October 2015, I took a vid-
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eo of The Playgirls, three scantily clad female dancers twerking in front of a crowd that included other women, children and college students, after an oath-taking ceremony of the new members of the Liberal Party (LP) in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. The dancers, who were dressed in boyleg panties and cropped tops, were a “surprise gift” by then Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Francis Tolentino to the host of the event, Laguna Rep. Benjie Agarao, who was celebrating his 58th birthday and 40th year in government service. Apart from their suggestive performance, the women invited several men from the audience to take part in sexually charged parlor games. Tolentino, then one of the LP’s prospective senatorial candidates in the 2016 elections, denied that it was he who had brought the women.
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As soon as we got the chance to go back to the field after being restricted by the pandemic, we trekked the mountains of Tanay in Rizal province in June to visit the off-grid and energy-poor Dumagat-Remontado indigenous communities. Inside my travel bag was a copy of young Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s book of speeches. The title of Thunberg’s book, “No One is Too Small to Make a Difference,” echoed exactly how I felt in the field upon seeing microtales of hope and struggle: a Dumagat family in the mountains watching an old, Tagalog-dubbed Korean drama in a solar-powered portable TV; a little boy, whose family was too poor to send him to school, holding a baby chick tightly because that’s the only toy he had; a young teacher dedicating most of her time helping students despite the pandemic; and many other pocket stories that inspire and motivate us to spark change. I was part of a three-woman team who explored in a twopart report how the vulnerable tribe was able to rise up to the climate crisis through science and indigenous knowledge. For this report, we partnered with international climate organization 350.org. Localizing knowledge The story was part of the 10-month collaborative climate change reporting fellowship of the Ateneo Center for Journalism and the Earth Journalism Network (EJN). Journalism courses like this are not readily available to most newsrooms. But as the climate crisis continues to unfold, we, as journalists, have sensed the urgency to catch up on new information. We know that we also have the responsibility to localize key knowledge and write better rights-oriented and evidence-based stories. Just as the project allowed us to integrate advocacy in journalism—with the combined threats of a global pandemic and climate crisis—it also helped us throw a spotlight on how community ingenuity could be potent tools for adaptation and resilience. In these challenging times,
GETTING STORIES ACROSS A media fellowship project sends this reporter on a trip to the remote communities of the Dumagat-Remontado tribe in Rizal province. —KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING
The Inquirer’s strong partnership with the academe has given us an avenue to train to be more than just a journalist who writes well but to be a voice for those whose stories need to be told and amplified collaborative journalism has been an incredible platform to shed light on the issues faced by society’s most vulnerable sectors. As a growing practice in the field of journalism, it encompasses news organizations and nonnews entities, such as civic groups and academic institutions, that are working toward a shared journalistic goal. Insidious enemies Through countless fellowships and collaborations over the past years, the Inquirer has enabled young journalists like me to partner with cause-oriented groups and the academe to tell stories that matter to communities and uncover critical issues, such as environmental protection and social justice, that are left unexplored in the daily grind. While the threat of the virus has challenged traditional news gathering processes, collabora-
tive journalism served as an excellent opportunity to harness the potential of newsrooms with reporters who are grounded with field expertise and civic organizations with expert knowledge. The Inquirer’s strong partnership with the academe has given us an avenue to train to be more than just a journalist who writes well but to be a voice for those whose stories need to be told and amplified. At a time when insidious enemies—a deadly virus and disinformation—threaten the lives of so many, collaborative storytelling could counteract the impact of unequal power relations, deep-seated inequalities and layers of democratic challenges, even when doing so is like navigating through uncharted waters. Breaking barriers This means, for example, telling the stories of people affected by arbitrary and unilateral policies like the thousands of distressed jeepney drivers who risked being caught violating the ban on public transport only because they had to put food on the table. Jeepneys are an important part of the Philippines’ cultural and social fabric. But they were taken off the road early last year as a COVID-19 mitigation measure, which became a welcome opportunity for proponents to push their so-called jeepney modernization plan. Many of the drivers have not yet returned to work amid a looming jeepney phaseout. WhentheInquirerwaschosen again by EJN to do a story on the transport crisis, we ourselves had to be creative in evading the strict lockdown in Metro Manila when we did the legwork, precisely because public transportation was not available.
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FROM EDSA TO ICC: AN UNTIRING WATCH human rights, featured men and women who challenged state narratives of activists resisting arrest and fighting back. The reportage uncovered a pattern of impunity: the absence of due process and the weaponization of the law to target activists.
FROM E1 sought authorization last May to formally investigate Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs for alleged crimes against humanity, she cited at least 36 Inquirer reports to support her 56-page request. These included this writer’s own special report on how some chiefs of police implicated in high-profile extrajudicial killings (EJKs) got off with a slap on the wrist, explainers on the 2018 to 2019 Senate hearings on the Davao Death Squad, as well as the paper’s coverage of the daily EJKs. Sought for comment on Bensouda’s report in an ANC interview, then presidential spokesperson Harry Roque shrugged it off as “fantastical.” “I counted, and about 85 percent of sources cited by the prosecutor in the preliminary examination report came from [the] media. As a lawyer, [I] know that media sources are considered hearsay,” Roque said. However, explained HRW’s Param-Preet Singh in a Rappler interview, the preliminary examination has a lower evidentiary threshold and can restrict itself to public information. Under this stage, she said, “we’re just talking about establishing the context and factual basis to
The International Criminal Court —ICC PHOTO justify the court’s intervention.” Seeking accountability But beyond their legal significance, the citations are reminders of the higher purpose of the stories the Inquirer tells: to help seek accountability and justice for those who were wronged. While the stories we file may be all in a day’s work, they mean much more to women like Llore Pasco, whose two sons were killed at the height of the war on drugs. Pasco was one of the mothers who filed the communique at the ICC that triggered the preliminary examination. Like the others, she believed that the ICC was the better venue
to exact justice not just for herself but also for other mothers. “Our lawyers [at the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers] were upfront with us that this would be a long, difficult process,” Pasco recalled. “But they told us to hold on, to hope that the day will come when there will be justice for us and the other victims.” Crackdown The Inquirer’s coverage of the crackdown on political dissidents and progressives has helped shed light on the insidious practice of Red-tagging. Five of the Inquirer’s own reporters were Red-tagged by the government’s anti-insurgency task force: Julie Alipala, Nestor
Burgos Jr., Kimberlie Quitasol, Tetch Torres-Tupas and Gabriel Lalu. All were accused of being communist propagandists shortly after they reported on alleged military abuses. The Red-tagging was part of the administration’s broader crackdown on criticism, for which ABS-CBN and Rappler paid a steep price: ABS-CBN was denied a franchise, and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa continues to face tax evasion and cyberlibel charges. The Inquirer itself has not been immune to such attacks, and is routinely singled out in presidential addresses. Restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as lockdowns and curfews, made it
difficult to report on critical issues that demand varying perspectives, including from those on the ground, forcing journalists to rely heavily on government statements. But amid the rush to fill news slots with pandemic stories, the Inquirer headlined the “Bloody Sunday” raids on March 9, 2020; the seven raids on Dec. 9, 2020, Human Rights Day; and the Tumandok massacre on Dec. 30, 2020. Many of the stories were written by the Inquirer’s bureau reporters, who were at most risk of being profiled and targeted by police. These stories, like the rest of the Inquirer’s reportage on
Parallelisms The pattern has prompted many to draw parallelisms between the Marcos and Duterte regimes, with rights groups claiming that the latter may have a worse record in terms of the death toll alone. Under the Marcos dictatorship, 70,000 people were arrested and 3,257 killed between 1975 and 1985. In contrast, the ICC estimates that from 12,000 to 30,000 were killed under Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs in almost six years, even without martial law. It’s true that the Inquirer of today is no longer part of the alternative press. As the Philippines’ newspaper of record, it has remained steadfast in ferreting out the truth and demanding accountability. Protecting our fragile democracy is a duty that, along with broad sectors of the Filipino public, the Inquirer takes to heart. It remains as involved in nation-building as it was 36 years ago. INQ
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GOING OFF-GRID, STAYING ON POINT FROM E2 The partnership with EJN eased our financial and logistics concerns in chasing the story. But more importantly, the fellowship allowed us to provide a platform for the jeepney drivers to make loud calls for lifting the ban, calls that seem to have fallen on deaf ears. At the heart of our story about jeepney modernization is the democratic sentiment of the disenfranchised transport workers who are not resisting progress and development but are merely seeking answers to a legitimate question: “Development for whom?” The jeepney drivers’ story taught us that at every step toward development, the principle of just transition should always be observed and that development should not breed more inequalities. In all these stories, however, I realized that journalism can break barriers between vulnerable communities and the civic space. Journalism in
Another year of award-winning coverage (and debut podcasts!) By Kathleen de Villa @kdevillaINQ
HOT SUBJECT Arturo Tahup of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities in an Inquirer interview for a special report on solar power. —KATHLEEN LIMAYO
itself, especially during a crisis, is a commitment to rebuild and protect civic space. Working hand in hand with civil society groups and the academe expands a journalist’s roles as gatekeepers of the truth and watchdogs of the public. And just like what the Inquirer has stood for over the years, collaborative journalism, and all forms of journalism for that matter, require truth seekers to not only be the mediators but more importantly the proactive agents of change who will restore trust on the truth by even the most disenfranchised sectors. INQ
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In another pandemic year that tested the strength of media companies and the mettle of individual journalists, the Inquirer, its reporters and editors continued to earn recognition for their work, including new forays into digital platforms. A fresh harvest of awards once again affirmed the newspaper’s standing and credibility as a source of information and innovation. In June, the Rotary Club Manila (RCM) presented the Inquirer the 2021 Pro Patria Journalism Award “for its commitment of valuable resources for the protection of free expression and its resilience in disseminating fair and truthful information resulting in an informed and enlightened citizenry.” In giving the award, it cited the newspaper’s “fearless and selfless use of its platform and
facilities for constructive criticism of government policies and actions, and [for] encouraging adequate and competent scrutiny of private enterprise.’’ RCM previously recognized the Inquirer as Newspaper of the Year in 2019, 2010, 2004 and 1992. Transport, agri There were individual honors for the staff as well. In March, news reporters Mariejo Ramos and Krixia Subingsubing won the top prize in the 2021 Journalism for an Equitable Asia Awards, conferred by the nonprofit Asia Centre and Oxfam in Asia, for their two-part special report on the impact of the lockdowns on jeepney drivers and operators. Besting over a hundred entries from across Asia, the report tackled the twin challenges faced by the transport sector—surviving the pandemic and complying with the requirements of the
government’s jeepney modernization program. In July, business reporter Karl Ocampo bagged the award for Best Agriculture Feature Story at the 14th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards. Ocampo’s story, “MovefoodPH serves needs of both producers, consumers,” expounded on a nationwide initiative to provide online sales platform for local food producers during the pandemic. First podcast In February, Inquirer’s true crime podcast “Super Evil”—hat recounts and tries to draw new perspectives from the country’s most celebrated cases of heinous crimes in recent memory —emerged as one of the big winners in the 56th Anvil Awards. Earning the Silver Anvil Award was Super Evil’s first season “Hatched in Hell”—about the 1993 murders of University of the Philippines Los Baños students
Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez that led to the conviction of then Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez. The project, done in partnership with the pioneering podcast network PumaPodcast, was the paper’s first attempt at podcasting, with Super section editor and Lifestyle assistant editor Pam Pastor as writer and host. And only last month, the Inquirer was named Best Business News Source at the 30th Business Journalism Awards of the Economic Journalist Association of the Philippines (Ejap). It shared the honor with BusinessMirror. The paper’s Business section has earned that distinction six years in a row since Ejap created the category in 2011. The media association also named business reporters Ocampo (who covers agriculture and mining), Ben de Vera (finance) and Miguel Camus (telco and transportation) as the best in their respective beats. INQ
SEXY DANCERS, LIVID RANTS AND VIDEO CLIPS FROM E2 But in the video, the event’s host clearly acknowledged Tolentino, who was then standing near the stage, as sponsoring the dancers to liven up the noontime gathering. The vid garnered over 1.7 million views on the Inquirer’s YouTube channel. Testament In the resulting controversy, Tolentino resigned as MMDA chair and the LP dropped him from its senatorial slate. But he ran anyway, joining the slate of Mr. Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan party as a guest candidate. He lost the 12th and final Senate slot to Sen. Leila de Lima. By some strange coincidence, Roque recently quit his post as Palace mouthpiece to join the senatorial race in the May 2022 elections. Roque had a plan to seek a Senate seat during the 2019 midterm elections, but shelved it after Mr. Duterte bluntly told him that he would not win. I’d be lying if I said I was not tickled pink that the source chose to send Roque’s flare-up vids to me, and not to TV reporters. Under an administration that has shown unrelenting hostility to perceived critics, including the media, getting that exclusive story was a prize. For me, it was another testament to the Inquirer’s unique identity as the topof-mind news organization for whistleblowers and others who want to share knowledge and evidence of shenanigans in high places. Trust From the Little League scandal to the”Pajero bishops” to the pork barrel scam to the questionable misuse of pandemic funds by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., the Inquirer has been the go-to media outlet of truth-tellers. If delivering agenda-setting news were a basketball game, our pages would be Michael Jordan, unafraid of sinking that last-second shot to win the game. (And I’d be Steve Kerr or so I wish.) I was just fortunate to have been a beneficiary of the trust that this newspaper has gained over the years of reporting balanced news and running fearless views. INQ
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Op-ed hits: Our 36 most-read editorials of 2021 From Pharmally to Elections 2022, a virtual snapshot of the most pressing issues to occupy the national conversation this year
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hat constitutes “mostread”? Per Inquirer. net metrics, that is a combination of page views, average time on page, and comments generated by a particular article—in other words, how much an article was read, shared, and discussed online by readers. Of the 365 editorials published by the Inquirer every year (or about less—our coverage for this survey is from January to Nov. 10, 2021), which ones stand out as the most compelling to readers, based on Inquirer.net numbers? Here they are—a virtual snapshot of the most pressing issues to occupy the national conversation this year, from the unending corruption, misconduct, and ineptitude in government especially during a devastating pandemic, to the frequent heights of consternation caused by now-resigned presidential mouthpiece Harry Roque’s daily sallies for the Duterte administration at the Palace rostrum, to occasional shafts of light such as Hidilyn Diaz’s historic triumph in the Olympics, to recurrent lamentations about the nation’s chronic inability to learn from its past, discern vested interests, and rise above its degraded, tangled history.
36. ‘VICTORY FOR THE PEOPLE’
Aguirre, one of the first of Mr. Duterte’s “brods” to be appointed to the government as among the vaunted “best and brightest,” attempted to get Argosino, Robles, and Sombero off the plunder hook by claiming that the money they eventually turned over to the government didn’t actually make the cut. He said the money was P1,000 short of P50 million, the minimum amount for a plunder case. (On Oct. 17, 2017, the Inquirer wrote in this space: “How is it possible for the justice secretary to even think that the public will buy, in any way or form, the bizarre explanation he has offered to justify the exculpation of his fraternity brothers from plunder? Who does he think he is kidding?”) 30 JUNE 2021
Filipinos felled by violent police operations. 17 SEPT. 2021
34. DYING OUTSIDE HOSPITALS
The One Hospital Command Center is a stark failure. DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega admitted that the number was sometimes unreachable because it supposedly did not have a call forwarding feature. Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo called this a “very lame excuse.’’ The center, after all, was put up by the IATF last year to become a centralized hospital monitoring and referral center, and it had all these months to beef up the facility. When asked by Quimbo what patients unable to reach the government’s hotline should do, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said they should ask their personal doctors for advice if they should go for alternatives to hospitalization. That’s the country’s top health official essentially telling the people that they are on their own—exactly what’s happening on the grounds and driveways of hospitals at this time, as desperate citizens see their loved ones expire without the helping hand of their government. 6 APRIL 2021
33. DANGEROUS GAME
The latest word is that the President has confirmed he is putting his name out there as a VP candidate, “to maintain the equilibrium.” Christian Monsod, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, is warning against this scenario: “For the President to run for vice president is against the intent of the Constitution. It’s an insidious move to circumvent the constitutional prohibition on reelection because the vice president is the mandatory line of succession to a vacancy…” But the current PDPLaban—the party founded by Ninoy Aquino, Nene Pimentel, and Lorenzo Tañada, and once a vanguard of the libertarian struggle against the Marcos dictatorship—is only too enthusiastic about this reckless, dangerous game. “Considering the clamor I have seen,” said vice chair Alfonso Cusi, “mahina po ang 90 percent na susuporta” if Mr. Duterte does decide to run for VP. How far the fruit has fallen from the tree. 3 JULY 2021
35. ‘SORRY FOR THE LOSS OF LIVES’ 32. CULTURE OF OBLIVIOUSNESS
Profuse apologies over the deaths of people do not normally leave a bad taste in the mouth. But President Duterte’s words of regret expressed last week did. The President publicly apologized for the killing by the police of four Chinese nationals in a buybust sting in Candelaria, Zambales, on Sept. 7. “I’m sorry for the loss of lives. Hindi natin ginusto ’yan. But I just hope that the countries (sic) from where these guys came from should understand that we have laws to follow,” said Mr. Duterte in a taped address aired on Sept. 8—a touch of sympathy and concern that his administration has never been able to summon for the scores of poor
It looks like the Office of the Ombudsman has forgotten its principal duty: the protection of citizens against injustice committed by public officials. It appears bent on not only keeping government officials’ wealth under wraps, but also on prohibiting remarks that would otherwise add to public enlightenment. Martires’ draft bill proposes a see-no-evil stance as though to complement the pretense of freedom of information. In the estimation of University of the Philippines journalism professor Danilo Arao, it “reflects wanton
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be paid what is owed them, they are subjected to official tongue-lashing and scorn. No wonder the country is in the throes of the gravest health and economic calamity it has ever seen, with no end in sight. Roque’s words need to be flung right back at him: How dare you. 14 SEPT. 2021
OP-ED HITS: OUR 36 MOST-READ EDITORIALS OF 2021 FROM F1
ignorance of a principle of journalism called truth-telling, which is essentially a combination of factual and contextual accuracy.” 27 OCT. 2021
31. UNSEEMLY MISSPENDING It’s been revealed this month that the DPWH had implemented a number of seemingly extraneous infrastructure projects at a time when the country’s poorly funded health system was being stretched to the limit by COVID-19. Among the projects funded by “savings” were a P70-million sports facility complete with swimming pool in Casiguran, Sorsogon; a P150-million port for cruise ships in Legazpi City, Albay; an P85.8-million building in Malacañang Park; a P40-million billeting area and cafeteria in Fort Sto. Domingo, Laguna; the P300-million repair-renovation of a Landbank building in Makati; and a P30-million “bat cave,” whatever that is, in Matanao, Davao del Sur. 27 SEPT. 2021
30. WHO’S IN CHARGE? Yet another embarrassing gaffe by officials in charge of facilitating the quarantine of passengers arriving in the country happened when more than 100 Filipino and foreign passengers who arrived from the United States and South Korea on Dec. 29 were brought to a hotel where they were to spend their 14-day quarantine. The hotel was “dilapidated’’ and had filthy facilities, complained the passengers. “We are not quarantined, we are hostaged,’’ Fr. Alberic Lazerna, one of the passengers, told ABS-CBN. Worse, Lazerna said they were given just one food pack—consisting of rice, hotdog, and egg for breakfast. “It’s so sad we are showing the Philippines this way. This is unacceptable. This is frustrating and disgusting.” Unacceptable is a mild word to describe the contemptible fact that after 10 months of community quarantine lockdowns, the concept of an efficient and systematic process for helping travelers go through the quarantine requirements still eludes our officials. 5 JAN. 2021
29. HIDILYN, FIRST OF HER NAME Hidilyn Diaz’s triumph has provided ringing proof—one golden, glittering, irrefutable blueprint—of what needs to be done to raise the country’s program to Olympic glory levels. More than that, as the Philippines’ first-ever golden champion in the Olympics in nearly a century of trying, as a woman in a sport long associated with and dominated by men, and—not least—for having triumphed over her counterpart from China at a time when the nation is being asked to be meek against that overbearing neighbor, she has brought to her country unmitigated pride, boundless inspiration, and transcendent enlightenment at what ordinary, but extraordinarily tenacious, Filipinos can do. Hidilyn, First of Her Name, Iron Maiden, Slayer of Dragons. 29 JULY 2021
28. NEW PARADIGM ON MARRIAGE A recent ruling by the Supreme Court, while not yet ushering in a regime of legal divorce in the country, certainly makes it easier, less costly, and less heartbreaking for couples to call an end to a marriage that had been doomed from the start. In its decision on the case of Tan-Andal v. Andal, the Supreme Court held that psychological incapacity “need not be a mental or personality disorder,” nor that it needs be “a permanent and incurable condition.” Lawyer and law dean Mel Sta. Maria, who was invited to be an “amicus curae” or friend of the court (along with Jesuit Fr. Adolfo Dacanay on canon law, and UP Dean Sylvia Estrada Claudio on psychology/psychiatry) to comment on the case in question, hailed the decision as “paradigm-changing.” 2 OCT. 2021
27. SO WHERE IS THE VACCINE? In “The State of Southeast Asia 2021” online poll taken by the Asean Studies Centre in Singapore from Nov. 18, 2020 to Jan. 10, 2021, Vietnam led citizen satisfaction with 96.6 percent, followed by Brunei with 93.9 percent, and Singapore with 92.4 percent. Among Filipinos, 17.9 percent “strongly disapproved,” and 35.8 percent “disapproved” of their government’s response; only 6 percent “strongly approved,” and 19.4 percent “approved” of it. For a year now, retired generals have been pushing the most important levers in the government’s response. While doubtless aware of the pandemic’s disastrous effects, they must also know that the public they serve expects their life-and-death decisions to be grounded in science, and common sense. Or, simply, compassion for the now doubly impoverished so as not to deepen the rift between privileged and powerless. 17 FEB. 2021
26. THE FARCE IS STRONG Not only was Mr. Duterte, the sitting president, essentially drafted as the vice presidential candidate by his own party. For the first time in the country’s political history, a putative VP candidate has been given carte blanche to choose his own running mate. The party assembly in Cebu was organized by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, PDP-Laban vice chair—at the behest of Mr. Duterte himself, and against the strenuous objections of party chair Sen. Manny Pacquiao, whose own moist-eyed gaze for the Palace was unceremoniously ignored. Pity the boxing champ: This
is politics at its basest and most farcical—no permanent friends, foes, or ground rules, only permanent interests. Five years back, Mr. Duterte had raised Pacquiao’s hand, declaring him “the next President of the Philippines.” Today, the senator stands betrayed by both his party and the political godfather he had slavishly served and protected. 4 JUNE 2021
25. SIMPLE MAN, HONORABLE LEGACY
The man himself said it best: “Ang layunin ko sa buhay ay simple lang: maging tapat sa aking magulang at sa bayan bilang isang marangal na anak, mabait na kuya, at mabuting mamamayan.” Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III was one of the rare Chief Executives to leave the country better and healthier than when he took office. In their collective mourning at Aquino’s passing, many Filipinos are belatedly acknowledging the honorable legacy the only son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino was able to bequeath to the nation. It is an acknowledgment much-deserved by a man who, in dying “peacefully in his sleep” as his grieving sisters announced in a statement, slipped out as modestly and unobtrusively as he had lived his life. 26 JUNE 2021
24. ‘LUCKY US’ “You Firipinos are so rucky!” a Japanese diplomat is supposed to have remarked to Filipino friends. “The Marcoses rob (love) you. They rob you reft, they rob you light. They rob you all the time!” Of course, this is a joke, but the groans and moans with which Filipinos greeted this remark made at the height of martial law were an indication that it had more than a kernel of truth in it. But, if you ask Sen. Imee Marcos, such jokes and other recollections about the Marcos legacy of plunder are simply “corny.” “(They) are so irrelevant at this time,” she said in a radio interview. This is all part of the Marcos playbook: Brush aside accusations of plunder and abuse of power, offer no excuses, no explanations, and certainly not an apology. 23 OCT. 2021
23. ONLY PERMANENT INTERESTS Publicly, Pimentel and Pacquiao declare their continuing support for and loyalty to the President. But in their heart of hearts they must now rue how the leader they had uncritically served and celebrated has turned against them, showing no compunction to shove aside erstwhile friends and employ fair means and foul to get his way. In joining the ranks of other Duterte believers eventually cast out—the Left, Pantaleon Alvarez, Alan Peter Cayetano—Pimentel, Pacquiao, and their supporters are being rudely reminded of American politician William Clay’s deathless observation: “This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests.” 24 JULY 2021
22. REPREHENSIBLE TACTIC The otherwise workaday routine at the venue for filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2022 general elections was rudely interrupted on Oct. 6 when a number of mobile phones suddenly started going off at the same time. It looked like an emergency text alert warning about heavy rainfall or an earthquake, but it wasn’t: It was a political advertisement for one candidate—Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the late ousted dictator, who was at the Sofitel in Pasay City to make official his plan to run for president next year. Who sent the text message? More disturbingly, why was it in the national emergency alert system? How did people gain access to the system which, by the looks of it, could be hijacked this easily and turned into a platform for campaign propaganda? 14 OCT. 2021
21. ‘UNCHRISTIAN’ In dismissing the public’s right to know the truth about his claimed COVID-19 positive status, Roque had demanded: “Why can’t public officials such as the presidential spokesperson be entitled to the presumption of regularity of pronouncement?” His “unchristian” retort answers his own question. A public that is lied to as a matter of course, that is made the subject of ritual dissembling, deception, and gaslighting by its public officials, has no obligation to reciprocate with any measure of trust or “presumption of regularity.” In particular, this administration’s unprecedented penchant for secrecy and smoke and mirrors, its inability to talk straight with the public, sets the tone for an environment of mistrust, speculation, and cynicism, further fraying the social fabric and rending confidence in institutions at a time when the country is facing its gravest crisis since the war. 16 APRIL 2021
20. HIJACKED BY FAMILIES AND PERSONALITIES
The last-minute decision by the PDP-Laban faction dear to President Duterte’s heart to field Sen. Bato dela Rosa as its standard-bearer shows what the public can expect from the administration in the crucial 2022 elections. The decision was made two hours before the 5 p.m. deadline of the filing of certificates of candidacy on Oct. 8 and relayed to him in a phone call, Dela Rosa said.
10. WHY STOP THE HEARINGS?
Elsewhere, the terrain is inhospitable to hope for better governance. Spouses, siblings, parents, and progeny are merrily exchanging posts as if these were a family inheritance. In this prevailing system, ordinary folk earnestly seeking to enter politics in order to uplift their lives and others’ don’t stand a chance. It’s time to boldly upend it, break the cycle. 13 OCT. 2021
19. ‘GRAND CONSPIRACY’ Presidential mouthpiece Harry Roque has pooh-poohed the Senate’s findings on Pharmally as a “tall tale,” but the inquiry “reveals unconscionable, unabashed and unethical circumventions of our republican way of governance,” said Sen. Richard Gordon, who has become the main target of the President’s broadsides. The President’s unrelievedly hostile behavior in this case means no serious, definitive effort to pursue the truth will happen from his end. The public can only hope that the Senate will stand its ground and continue to expose the workings of this crooked enterprise, as Gordon has vowed: “We will pursue in the people’s name not only to punish the perpetrators but also for them to return the money they stole from all of us.” 22 OCT. 2021
18. UNDERHANDED MOVE On Sept. 30, out of the blue, Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla filed a motion for the House of Representatives to reconsider a bill institutionalizing the abrogated 1989 accord between the University of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense. The bill had passed third and final reading, meaning it was already approved by the House. Who’s afraid of outspoken students and teachers? Lawmakers like Remulla and company, apparently, who, as trusty foot soldiers of the Duterte administration, have no qualms engaging in underhanded moves that thrash the rules of their own chamber to execute Malacañang’s scorched-earth policy against what it perceives as its enemies—in this case, the historically defiant, staunchly independent-minded UP and its constituents. 10 OCT. 2021
17. THE PNOY-ERA ECONOMIC HIGH At the end of his presidency in 2016, Aquino left the country a stable, thriving economy (“the fastest among 11 Asian economies during that year’s first three months,” per an Inquirer report). While the succeeding Duterte administration maintained the high-growth trend through the first half of its term, the global COVID-19 pandemic that struck last year has now negated much of the economic gains. Recession took hold of the economy, unemployment swelled as a result, and millions of families were pushed back into poverty. Government finances have weakened as the economic difficulties curbed tax revenues and the health crisis caused unexpected expenses that the administration has had to cover with borrowings. 28 JUNE 2021
16. KILLING BAYANIHAN How did so much money intended for immediate pandemic relief end up unused? The unexpended funds represent the height of dereliction of duty for a government that, in the middle of a catastrophic crisis and after allocating money including from huge foreign borrowings, would then allow billions of that fund to be held up. What excuses do government agencies have for being slow in the disbursement of the allocations when the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws were passed expressly to “authorize the President to exercise powers necessary to carry out urgent measures to meet the current national emergency related to COVID-19,” including the power to “reallocate, realign and reprogram’’ budgets? Adding insult to injury was the fact that the topnotcher in the non-use of the funds was the very agency supposed to lead the government’s fight against the pandemic—the Department of Health. 6 JULY 2021
15. MARCOS JR.’S FICTIONS Martial law and the unrestrained power it bestowed on the dictator and his heirs doubtless bred the feeling of entitlement galvanizing Marcos Jr. in singing paeans to the dark era that his family is striving mightily to blur in the collective consciousness. His recent “interview” with the entertainer Toni Gonzaga quickly achieved notoriety for his dissembling, including his claim that the dictatorship had the necessary military support at the height of the 1986 civilian-backed revolt, but that his father “chose not to fight” the people. That fabrication crumbles to the dramatic defections of ranking military officers—all on record—in those four critical days, when his father’s order to impose a curfew became laughable in the face of the masses of protesters clogging the now-historic highway. 23 SEPT. 2021
14. LANDMARK TALE OF CORRUPTION The recent Supreme Court decision finding notorious Marcos crony Herminio Disini guilty of using his connections to facilitate (and profit from) the building of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) is worth celebrating. Even more remarkable, the high tribunal, voting unanimously 12-0 with two inhibitions, awarded P1 billion in temperate damages and P1 million in exemplary damages to the Philippine government. The state coffers may be the beneficiary of the amounts due, but it is really the Filipino citizenry who deserve to be compensated. It was they after all who, decades after the project was abandoned, continued to shoulder the nefarious debt incurred for the anomalous project. The Supreme Court said it “held Disini liable for exerting undue influence in the awarding of the BNPP project by taking advantage of his close association with former president Ferdinand Marcos.” 19 JUNE 2021
13. NEW FINDING: IT’S AIRBORNE
Leading health institutions have acknowledged a key finding about COVID-19 that will have a major impact on health protocols and policies worldwide: that SARSCoV-2, or the virus that causes COVID-19, is airborne. In the Philippines, Dr. Rontgene Solante, head of the adult infectious diseases and tropical medicine department of the San Lazaro Hospital, stressed the need to modify health protocols, particularly in public transport as well as in offices, as employees return to work. Among the standard health protocols, physical distancing tends to be ignored the most, which poses a major risk since “an aerosolized droplet can stay in the air longer than the [ordinary COVID-19] droplet and can reach longer than 3 feet—like 6 ft to 8 ft especially in a closed space without ventilation because of their ability to be airborne,” Solante told CNN Philippines. 23 MAY 2021
12. CALIDA’S ‘MENTAL CALISTHENICS’
Just five months after getting a severe dressing down from the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Jose Calida received another judicial rebuke when the 11th division of the Court of Appeals scored his “Janus-faced” position and “mental calisthenics” over the Duterte administration’s bid to revoke the amnesty given to its fierce critic, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and have him arrested. Since the lower and appellate courts have already affirmed the validity of Trillanes’ amnesty, this issue should be deemed resolved and definitively—exhaustively—threshed out by now. The OSG has devoted inordinate time, effort, and government resources to pursuing a campaign of naked political vendetta against an administration critic, when it has a huge backlog of unresolved cases and has yet to satisfactorily comply with the earlier Supreme Court directive to release government records on the “war on drugs.” 15 JUNE 2021
11. ROQUE IN A RAGE Elsewhere in the world, doctors and nurses and health workers are justifiably feted as heroes for their valiant, invaluable work in the pandemic barricades. Here, for insisting that their voices be heard, that their insights and expertise be taken into consideration in the pandemic policy-making alongside those of retired generals and non-health experts, and, not least, that they
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The ironically named House committee on good government and accountability has slammed as “political” the Senate probe into the Pharmally deal, which has so far revealed how, among other anomalies, a small favored foreign supplier cornered a multibillion government contract for face masks, personal protective equipment (PPE), and test kits without following the prescribed procedure for government procurement. While the Senate probe has certainly put the spotlight on certain lawmakers eyeing the May 2022 elections, the questions Aglipay’s committee should be asking, if it remotely wants to live up to its name and not be deemed a House committee on summary absolution, are: Who benefits from hushing up the deal? Isn’t the use of taxpayer money a matter of public interest? Why stop the hearings? What is Malacañang trying to hide? 24 SEPT. 2021
09. SORRY, BUT NOT REALLY Salvador Panelo drew another ugly face for Malacañang in refusing to apologize to the woman who made her country’s almost-a-century-old dream of winning an Olympic gold a reality. His stance is the last thing Malacañang needs at this time when public opinion is at an ebb, and he’ll be a fool not to know it. Hidilyn Diaz’s statement of forgiveness, said in a mix of English and Filipino—“After I won the gold, I said I have to forgive everyone, those who bashed me, those who threatened me”—showed all and sundry the steely grace of which she is made, and the utter lack of it in Panelo as chief presidential legal counsel and who and what he represents. (But then President Duterte himself urged her to “let bygones be bygones.”) 4 AUG. 2021
08. THE INEXHAUSTIBLE PHARMALLY MYSTERIES
As more revelations are coming out indicating possible massive corruption and plunder in the Pharmally deals, the President who has vowed an unforgiving stand against even a “whiff” of wrongdoing in government has mounted a strident defense of Yang and the Pharmally transactions while denigrating the work of the Senate, a co-equal body. This early, Mr. Duterte has made plain his hostility to the idea of getting to the bottom of things. He has resorted to a by-now threadbare playbook—deploying a blizzard of distractions, from vilifying individual senators to decrying so-called politicking to dismissing congressional probes as amounting to nothing anyway, to try to dissipate the stink. It will not work. 16 SEPT. 2021
07. JOKES, LIES, ‘BRAVADO’ Trading in jokes while secretly despising the public, especially those they deem foolish enough to believe their promises, is the playbook of cynical politicians courting the voters’ favor. But, as Sen. Panfilo Lacson lamented, Filipino voters are also “easily swayed by jokes, Budots (a dance craze), TikTok.” Lacson believes it would take “generations” before the electorate’s “shallow” political preferences and perceptions of candidates would change to more rational, discerning standards in the future. But the disquieting truth is that tomorrow is now. A year from now, Filipinos will be trooping once again to the polls in what many observers have said is a pivotal, historic electoral exercise that will determine the deliverance of the country from the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic collapse not seen since World War II. Will a year be enough to raise the country’s political culture and civic mindset to higher standards of judgment and voting? Or will the public still be swayed by dancing clowns and singing fools? 15 MAY 2021
06. POWER PLAY Something starkly disturbing happened in the early hours of Oct. 18 in the headquarters of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) in Baguio City: A “commando-type” operation was staged to take
over the firm, with the National Electrification Administration deputizing the Cordillera police to storm the place. The purpose: to install a former assistant secretary at the Presidential Communications Operations Office in Malacañang as Beneco general manager, despite her alleged lack of qualifications and the opposition to her appointment by the Beneco board, employees, and consumers. The takeover of the power coop drew widespread condemnation from residents, businessmen, organizations, and officials. 26 OCT. 2021
05. REITERATING MARCOS’ PLUNDER
Ferdinand “Bongbong’’ Marcos Jr. claimed in a much-derided YouTube interview: “Just think of the things that were being said in ’86, February, March, April. All the things—‘we discovered this’—all of them have been proven as lies. But people still insist that it’s shady, fine, that’s your business.’’ Just days after that barefaced lie, the Sandiganbayan released a decision that all but rebutted Marcos Jr.’s cocky claim and reiterated the Marcos record of pillage. In a Sept. 24 ruling, the anti-graft court ordered Royal Traders Holding Co. Inc., formerly the Traders Royal Bank (TRB), to pay the government around P367 million plus 12 percent per year from 1993—money it deemed to be part of the ill-gotten wealth of the former dictator and his family. How were these funds traced back to the Marcoses? Bank certificates attesting to the deposits issued by TRB from 1974 to 1979 were recovered from the crates the Marcoses brought when they fled to Hawaii in 1986. 5 OCT. 2021
04. TRUE JUSTICE FOR CHRISTINE Subsequent developments in the Christine Dacera case prove that the Makati police’s and Sinas’ action and celebration were indeed premature, based on sloppy procedures and quick conjecture. National Capital Region Police Office chief Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao admitted on Thursday that the arrest of three of Christine’s friends was based on insufficient evidence, comparing it to an unripe mango (“hilaw pa”). Much of the noise on social media and mainstream media can be traced back to the careless statements made by law enforcement officials, and more deplorably, to their shoddy investigative work and disregard for proper procedures and diligent sleuthing. Of course, who would not want and demand “Justice for Christine”? But neither should the public—especially Christine’s grieving family—be handed justice pursued with careless abandon and deception. Especially if that “justice” is merely an attempt by the police establishment to burnish its badly battered image after a series of embarrassments and scandals. 9 JAN. 2021
03. PERSIDA’S FOLLY The normally vociferous and theatrical Persida Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office, has been unusually silent these days in the face of recent events that directly point to her culpability in the delayed delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. Acosta’s shrill antics did more than discredit Dengvaxia in the Philippines. Now, the mistrust haunts negotiations over the COVID-19 vaccine and continues to sow public doubts. Surveys say almost half of Filipinos are not inclined to get a COVID-19 vaccine because of safety concerns. Because Acosta was hitting the previous administration, her irresponsible scaremongering was excused by Malacañang. But with the country now reaping the results of her folly, registering more COVID-19 cases with each day’s delay in vaccines, Persida Acosta’s pestilential chickens have come home to roost. 26 FEB. 2021
02. PH IN A ‘PERFECT STORM’ The results of the Pulse Asia survey conducted last Sept. 6-11 should be required reading in Malacañang: The most pressing national concern Filipinos want the Duterte administration to address is controlling inflation (41 percent), closely followed by increasing the pay of workers (40 percent). Given the substantial drop in income among millions of Filipino households whiplashed by unending lockdowns and disruptions in work and mobility, the slightest uptick in inflation would certainly cause acute pain, hence the crying need to address it with dispatch, per the Pulse Asia survey. But the election season has set in, and the Duterte administration has months left to right the course of its erratic, in many ways ruinous pandemic response. 12 OCT. 2021
01. ‘LUTONG MACAU’? Concerned citizens filed last month with the Ombudsman a criminal complaint charging Energy Secretary Alfono Cusi, billionaire Udenna Corp. CEO Dennis Uy, and other officials with graft for their role in what they deem as the questionable sale of the majority stake in the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project—“the most incredible crony agreement” in history, they said. Cusi has characterized the charges as politically motivated. Are they? Only a rigorous, transparent probe delving into the fine print of this mammoth transaction will assuage such questions. The Malampaya field is simply too important a national asset to be the subject of any suspect deal—and its seemingly convenient sale to a known associate of the President deserves the utmost scrutiny. 2 NOV. 2021
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Pope to journos: ‘Listen, deepen, tell’
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t a gathering last month where he honored two veteran Vatican journalists, Pope Francis gave this exhortation to those in the journalism profession: “Listen, deepen, tell.” Simple words but profoundly meaningful in an age both dangerous and confusing, when harbingers of truth are in the crosshairs, sometimes literally, of assassins. The words are “ancient but ever new” (to borrow from St. Augustine) for this era drowning in the cacophony of clashing information from sources dubious and genuine, from purveyors of hate, lies, disunity, and terror, while the truth is on a via crucis. The Pope could very well have addressed a bigger audience of journalists outside of the Roman enclave, those reporting from dangerous everyday places and war zones where many journalists have lost their lives, their bloodied pens and cameras falling with them on the ground. His words ring true for those who seek the truth in the corridors of power as well as in dark, damp alleys where the truth cries out to be heard. The Pontiff could have spoken to Filipino media practitioners as well who are no strangers to the perils of their profession. (Stats: 193 killed since 1986; 112 libel suits for the Inquirer since its founding in 1986.) “I want in some way to pay homage to your entire community of work,” Pope Francis said. “Journalism is reached not so much by choosing a profession, as by launching oneself on a mission, a bit like the doctor, who studies and works so that evil is cured in the world.” Journalists are a global community of truth seekers and truth tellers (truth sellers, too, of the media indus-
HUMAN FACE MA. CERES P. DOYO
IT IS IN THE DEEPENING ZONE THAT THE TRUTH RISES CLEARLY AND SUMMONS THE TRUTH TELLER THAT IT BE TOLD BRAVELY AND WELL try that must stay in the black) but as such they are not like everybody else in other fields who do the same, say, in social media or other platforms. Journalists adhere to a code of ethics in our seeking and reporting. Ours is an exacting profession that stands and falls on many legs—accuracy, fairness, the credibility of sources, the
veracity of data gathered, the journalist’s skill to listen and separate the chaff from grain, the gift of storytelling/reporting, deadlines, to name a few—and most of all, the journalist’s own integrity in telling the truth. Truth, when laid bare, is unforgiving but also rewarding. Journalism is not just a career. It is a vocation, a calling to truth. But as in other callings—e.g., the priesthood, politics, science, law enforcement—it has its share of fallens in need of redemption.
“Your mission is to explain the world,” the Pope stressed, “to make it less dark, to make those who live there fear it less and look at others with greater awareness, and also with more confidence … It is difficult to think, meditate, deepen, stop to collect ideas and to study the contexts and precedents of a news item. The risk, you know well, is that of letting oneself be crushed by the news instead of being able to make sense of it. “This is why I encourage you to preserve and cultivate that sense of
mission which is at the origin of your choice. And I do it with three verbs that I think can characterize good journalism: listen, deepen, tell.” Three verbs. One not more difficult or easier than the other two. How aptly Pope Francis put the word “deepen” between listen and tell. It is in the deepening zone that the truth rises clearly and summons the truth teller that it be told bravely and well. Thirty-six years ago, in the waning days of a dictatorship, the Philippine Daily Inquirer embarked to make concrete those three words. Present at its birth were veterans of the newspaper industry as well as young journalists who have had their baptism of fire while press freedom was under siege. To go into an industry long intimidated by a tyrant and his minions was a leap in the dark. But as George Orwell had said, “In a time of deceit, truth is a revolutionary act.” Yea, it is not an idea or ideal but an act. It has been a colorful 36-year journey after that dark era. Five presidents had come and gone and the sixth is now in the twilight of his brand of tyrannical rule. Six presidents with varying values, visions, and viciousness, leaders who led this country though historic climes and inglorious crimes that cried to the heavens for retribution. This woebegone republic is now in the cusp of a new era, in the throes of rebirth. On a personal note, as I myself have gushed with awe, gratitude, and sometimes with mock exasperation during the critical junctures in this continuing ride of truth seeking and truth telling: “Nobody told me it would be like this.” But we are still here. -----------------Send feedback to cerespd@gmail.com
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Dear Editor: 36 most-read letters from our readers in 2021 F
Forceful, incisive, tart, well-argued, deeply engaged—the keenest feedback and pushback from the Inquirer community
or last year’s anniversary issue, we highlighted what we called “35 keepers from Inquirer readers”—a representative compendium of the best reader reactions we received in 2020, to honor an indispensable part of the Inquirer community: our readers who take the time to write forceful, incisive, tart, well-argued, deeply engaged letters to the editor commenting on the daily news and opinions in the paper. “Every month,” as we noted, “some 160 such letters arrive, mostly by email now but occasionally still through the post or hand-delivered, and the best ones are published five times a week in the Inquirer Opinion section, enriching the discourse and becoming a vital part of the daily national conversation.” This year, we continue the tradition by listing down the 36 most-read letters from readers from January to Nov. 10, 2021—“mostread” in this case meaning the ones that generated the most shares, page views, and comments on Inquirer.net. What national issues and topics brought up by readers in the past 11 months provoked the keenest feedback and back-and-forth from fellow readers? Take a look at the
impassioned excerpts below—and let the discussions begin anew. 36. Who’s to blame for Robredo’s dismal rating? Garnering a truly pathetic 6 percent of those polled last June to see whom they would likely vote to succeed Mr. Duterte as against Sara Duterte’s 28 percent, [Vice President Leni] Robredo has no one to blame but herself for her dismal rating. Sara has been on the hustings since years ago, shoring up political support for her regional Hugpong ng Pagbabago which is now gaining traction nationwide. It is most unfortunate that Robredo has all these years seemed mostly content with just issuing anodyne press releases—as if only to prove her office still exists! She has never even tried in earnest to demonstrate how stark the contrast is between her brand of leadership and that of the incumbent president. YVETTE SAN LUIS-PETROCELLI, ysl.69996@gmail.com, 27 July 2021 35. Unmistakable Davao connection in government corruption The “Davao connection” is all over
the transfer of P42-billion COVID-19 funds from the Department of Health to the Department of Budget and Management in March 2020. Lloyd Christopher Lao, who hails from Davao, is a fraternity brother of President Duterte, and is a former undersecretary in the Presidential Management Staff under Christopher Bong Go, approved the supply contracts with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. ... Pharmally officials were personally introduced to Mr. Duterte in March 2017 by Michael Yang, his former adviser on economic affairs who is also from Davao City. The pattern is unmistakable: The Davao connection is entrenched in government corruption. JOSE J. FERRER JR., jjferrerjr1@ yahoo.com, 14 Sept. 2021 34. Dear presidential candidates: Before we vote for you... Before we cast our votes, tell us what your take is on the following issues: 1. The government’s COVID-19 response 2. Relations with China and the US 3. The way forward for our economy 4. Graft and corruption
5. Full devolution to local government units 6. Face-to-face or online classes? 7. Payment of the country’s debt (Over P13 trillion by the time President Duterte is gone, according to an Inquirer report.) REGINALD B. TAMAYO, reginaldtamayo@yahoo.com, 1 Nov. 2021 33. Roque the blatherskite insults people’s intelligence I seldom bother to read any news item where “Palace Pinocchio” Harry Roque gets to say anything about what’s going on in this country. The guy is such a liar I wonder if he ever tries to listen to himself without feeling any guilt or shame about the stupid or weird things that come out of his mouth... How does Roque find the gall to insult the common intelligence of people so brazenly? Surely the University of the Philippines College of Law can boast of more respectable law professors, can’t it? ANNALEE LAUDER, annaleelau@gmail.com, 11 June 2021 32. The fickle Harry Roque The editorial “Moment of reckoning” was dead-on in its observation about
the fickleness and shamelessness of presidential spokesperson Harry Roque: “What has become of the former human rights lawyer (Roque)? Completely transmogrified into the barker now hard at work defending the first Philippine president to face a potential grave case in the ICC (International Criminal Court).” The former University of the Philippines College of Law professor is living proof of the extreme extent to which a lawyer would go if the price was right: Do or say anything to please a client. SCARLET S. SYTANGCO, sssytangco@gmail.com, 26 March 2021 31. Debate with Carpio: Harry Roque has no credibility as Duterte’s stand-in How dare [Harry] Roque call [retired Supreme Court justice Antonio] Carpio just an “ordinary lawyer.” In comparison to the brilliance of the “best chief justice the Supreme Court never had,” Roque’s law practice would seem to be more in the category of ambulance-chasing. When Carpio hinted that Mr. Duterte might back out to save face and designate someone else to engage him in that intellectual exercise,
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Absence of press freedom is threat to world peace
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reedom of expression, which includes freedom of the press, is the freedom without which our other freedoms or civil liberties cannot exist. Without a free press, there can be no free elections as the choice of the people will be limited to what the government in power will present to the people. Without a free press, there is no right to accountability from government officials as the people will be in the dark on government transactions affecting public interest or involving public funds. Now, we know that the absence of a free press is even a threat to world peace. The South China Sea dispute is acknowledged to be one of the major flashpoints that can lead to a regional or even a world war. The root cause of the South China Sea dispute is the historical narrative of China, drilled by the Chinese communist government into the minds of all Chinese citizens from grade school to college, that China has owned the South China Sea since 2,000 years ago. The 1.4 billion Chinese people sincerely believe this historical narrative as absolutely true. They consider the South China Sea, and all the islands and resources found in this sea, as sacred territory handed down through the centuries by their ancestors. Due to the absence of a free press in China, this is the only historical narrative on the South China Sea that Chinese people read or encounter throughout their lives. The Chinese government
CROSSCURRENTS ANTONIO T. CARPIO
has also erected an internet firewall that prevents the Chinese people from accessing certain websites abroad, depriving the Chinese people of vital information that could educate them about the true history of the South China Sea. Outside China, however, the situation is the complete opposite. While at first scholars in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia entertained the Chinese historical narrative as plausible considering China’s long history, the tide turned when the Arbitral Award came out in July 2016 authoritatively debunking China’s historical narrative. Since then, prodigious research by various scholars, using China’s own historical records, have exposed the blatant lie in China’s historical narrative. China’s claim to the South China Sea started only after World War II,
in the late 1940s, and even then China only claimed islands in the South China Sea and not the entire South China Sea. The author of China’s infamous nine-dash line, the Kuomintang Party that controlled China from 1927 to 1949, admitted in 2014 that the lines are claims to islands and their territorial seas, and not a claim to the entire South China Sea. The free press in countries outside China have educated their publics that China never owned or controlled the South China Sea throughout China’s long history. Today, thanks to the free press in almost all countries, China’s historical narrative is ridiculed outside China by national leaders, scholars, and the public at large. The world is now divided into two camps—a China that believes it owns the South China Sea, and the rest of the world that believes the South
China Sea is governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or Unclos, which recognizes that in the South China Sea there are exclusive economic zones and extended continental shelves belonging to adjacent coastal states, as there are high seas belonging to all states. Under Unclos, a coastal state cannot claim more than 350 nautical miles of maritime zone from its coastline. Under its nine-dash line, China is claiming maritime areas more than 1,000 nautical miles from its coastline, encroaching on the maritime areas of other coastal states. China has enacted this year a new law authorizing its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels that take fish, or survey for oil and gas, in maritime areas of the South China Sea more than 350 nautical miles from China’s coastline and within the exclusives eco-
nomic zones of other coastal states. This authority to use armed might to enforce China’s excessive maritime claims violates the UN Charter and Unclos, which prohibit the use of force in settling maritime disputes among states. Last Nov. 16, 2021, the Chinese Coast Guard used its new law when their vessels water-cannoned two Philippine ships on their way to resupply Philippine soldiers aboard the BRP Sierra Madre that is beached in Ayungin Shoal. The Arbitral Tribunal has ruled that Ayungin Shoal is a submerged area within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. Next time, the Chinese Coast Guard could fire their naval cannons with live rounds on Philippine or other foreign ships, sparking a regional or even a world war. The absence of a free press in China makes it easy for the Chinese communist government to manipulate its people into believing that China is the victim of foreign aggression. The absence of a free press in China allows its communist government to depict to the Chinese people that its government’s blatantly unlawful aggression in the South China Sea is actually a reasonable lawful measure to defend what China has owned since 2,000 years ago. The absence of a free press in China is a clear and present danger to world peace. -----------------acarpio@inquirer.com.ph
DEAR EDITOR: 36 MOST-READ LETTERS FROM OUR READERS IN 2021 Roque
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FROM G1 have been farthest from his mind. Mr. Duterte was being “smart.” He was insulting Carpio’s intelligence by naming an expendable stooge. RAMON NORMAN TORREFRANCO, rn_torree@ yahoo.com, 10 May 2021
30. Be scared for the Philippines If a puerile disposition is the best explanation that President Duterte can muster for his fortnight absence from the public eye, one can only fear for the country ... Might John Renmerde’s wise words help? “When one finds oneself in a hole of one’s own making, it is a good time to examine the quality of the workmanship.” VIRGINIA CALPOTURA RSCJ, strvirginia@yahoo.com.ph, 23 April 2021 29. Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth, martial law abuses are legitimate election issues The Marcos wealth and the abuses of martial law are legitimate issues that should be considered by our countrymen in choosing the next president in 2022. This is not indulging in blame game and politicking, even if political opportunists are sure to surface during this political season ... As voters, we cannot be so smug and indifferent as to turn a blind eye to the corruption and misgovernance that have afflicted the country, and so undiscriminating as not to recognize false and pretentious leaders whether from the past or present who have brought this curse upon the nation. We have to demand accountability and even retribution for their crimes against the people—by not electing them into office and depriving them the opportunity to commit the same transgressions again. DONATO SOLIVEN, paraquepa@yahoo.com, 8 Oct. 2021 28. Isko choosing Ong a shortsighted decision? Willie Ong, a popular physician, is qualified to be vice president, of course. His selection as Isko Moreno’s running mate is not a bad idea per se. In fact, it may be a brilliant political move. But, if the tandem wins, can Ong help Moreno in running the country, which is far different from governing a city? ... The possibility that the country will be ruled—yet again—like a city instead of a multicultural state if Moreno becomes president cannot be ignored, however. With this, the choice to have Ong as No. 2 becomes a shortsighted decision that should make us reassess Moreno’s kind of leadership. JONAS CABILES SOLTES, terio1947@gmail.com, 30 Sept. 2021 27. An appeal to IATF and CHEd: Reopen schools The conduct of online classes, on a long-term basis, is not simply applicable to all students in all levels of learning.
We cannot allow the quality of learning to suffer any further. It’s high time we reconsider the best interest of our students. Why not allow in-person classes starting in areas with the lowest risk of COVID-19? Why can’t we allow colleges and universities to open, once again, their doors to their students?... The COVID-19 virus is here to stay. And with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, why not put our students on the priority list? Why not allow schools with clinics/hospitals to handle the vaccination program of these students? ... The resumption of classes will slowly revive our economy as students return to their respective schools. As a parent, I would gladly accompany my daughter back to her dormitory in Los Baños. Life, and learning, must go on. BELEN DOCENA-ASUELO, bdasuelo@yahoo.com, 28 June 2021 26. Sereno’s ouster ‘fundamentally wrong’ The current Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down Solicitor General Jose Calida’s second attempt at quo warranto against Associate Justice Marvic Leonen (another member of the Court the Duterte administration needs like a hole in the head) sent a clear message that the statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) should NEVER be weaponized to remove a sitting justice. To our simple way of thinking, the Court actually meant to say: “Should NEVER have been weaponized...” What was sauce for the gander (the late chief justice Renato Corona) should be sauce for the goose (Sereno)! Was that not a clear admission that the ouster of Sereno as chief justice was fundamentally wrong, based as it was only on her lack of SALNs? CHIN CHIN KATIGBAK, cckatigbak@yahoo.com.ph, 30 April 2021 25. Sereno’s unconstitutional removal worst ever mistake by SC There is no doubt that former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was unconstitutionally removed by a kangaroo court that describes itself as the Supreme Court with the active participation of three justices whose ambition to be chief justice would not be fulfilled if Sereno was allowed to complete her term. For me, as a lawyer for more than 40 years and proud of the profession, the unconstitutional removal of Sereno was the worst ever mistake by the Supreme Court. It pains me that several sitting justices went to the House of Representatives to ask for her impeachment, an unprecedented act in our history. Worse, the same justices refused to recuse themselves when a quo warranto case was filed against her at the Court. Whatever happened to the ethical rule on judges inhibiting in cases where they have already prejudged a party to a case? For this retired lawyer, Sereno will remain to be the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court. JOSE BARTOLOME, (no email upon request), 18 May 2021
24. Will the Supreme Court own up to its mistake? In “vindicating” the late chief justice Renato Corona, the Supreme Court said: “For the future’s worth, it is herein stressed that the SALN (statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth) is a tool for public transparency, never a weapon for political vendetta,” obviously referring to former president Noynoy Aquino’s utter dislike toward Corona. Apparently blaming the evil of politics as the main reason for Corona’s fall, the Supreme Court decided to sock it to Congress for ruining the former chief justice’s reputation, rehabilitate him with full recognition of his worth, and reward him posthumously with a “humongous financial package” to add to his already considerable assets conservatively estimated at P220 million in hidden bank accounts—for which dishonesty bordering on corruption, ironically, he was kicked out of the Supreme Court. So, as clear as daylight, the Supreme Court has admitted it was wrong for the supermajority of its members then to play along blindly with Solicitor General Jose Calida who “weaponized” the SALN to remove by quo warranto chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was evidently a victim of President Duterte’s vendetta. Now, hoist with its own petard, will the Court own up to another mistake and likewise “vindicate” or “rehabilitate” Sereno? Or will it play politics, too, and wait after Mr. Duterte is gone? CARMELA N. NOBLEJAS, cnn_wuzzup@yahoo.com, 19 April 2021 23. Tax relief removed by Mayor Isko Before [Isko] Moreno became [Manila] mayor, city property owners used to enjoy some relief from their tax liabilities, with a 20-percent discount if full payments were made before the end of January the following year. Now, Moreno has drastically cut that period to Dec. 10 of the current year for them to avail themselves of that discount. Nang-iipit sa mga taxpayers, many of whom are hard put to find the wherewithal to meet that deadline, especially during this still-raging pandemic. ROSE ANNE BARTOLOME, roseannebar88@yahoo.com, 9 Nov. 2021 22. No to Sinovac As long-time Makati residents and business owners, my wife and I have always been supportive of the Binays as leader of our beloved city, from the time of Jojo Binay, and now his youngest child, the hardworking Mayor Abby. And we were so happy when she announced that we (seniors after the frontline health workers) would be vaccinated with AstraZeneca after it got the highest vote in a preference poll they conducted last year. Our high spirits turned to disappointment, however, when, upon showing up at the San Lorenzo Gym for our scheduled vaccination on April 13, we were told that we
would be jabbed with Sinovac instead of the promised brand. We, along with a good number of San Lorenzo Village residents, decided to walk out. Why would we settle for a brand that has the lowest efficacy rate among the World Health Organization-approved vaccines? And Sinovac is NOT recommended for seniors! ED DAMES, edames.fci@ gmail.com, 19 April 2021 21. Robredo’s potential for president More than 14 million Filipinos voted for Robredo as vice president in the 2016 elections, defeating a strong political name from the north of Luzon whose father shamelessly ruled the Philippines as a dictator for 20 years. Robredo’s legitimacy as vice president has been affirmed by the Supreme Court by junking the election protest of her opponent, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. It is too early to denounce her potential as a leader should she ever run for president in 2022. She can be quiet and looks timid, and she may not be invincible, but she could have the ferocity of a lady fighter like Joan of Arc. To test her, why not elect her president? Only by this test can the Filipino people judge her strengths and weaknesses. JOSE M. BRIONES, jomebriones@yahoo.com, 18 Feb. 2021 20. Why is Duterte soft on China? China is slowly eating up our territory, but President Duterte remains quiet. Many are confused as to why he is maintaining his position of quiet passivity. I believe the problem stems from his life-long reputation of being a tough guy. He never runs away from a fight— backing down would mean loss of face. He can hurl tough words at the United States and he is sure he would not get challenged to a fight. But if he stands up to China, he would immediately be confronted, and he would have a fight that he realizes he cannot win. He would have to back down and lose face. Hence, it is easier to flaunt his friendship with China and assert that all differences with a friend can be resolved through silent diplomacy. We can only hope that Mr. Duterte and his group will be replaced after the 2022 elections. RENE TORRES, rentorres@yahoo.com, 9 April 2021 19. Whatever happened to Duterte’s bravado? Whatever happened to Mr. Duterte’s much-vaunted bravado in dealing with hoodlums in his former turf as city mayor? Kulang na lang lumuhod itong presidente natin sa harap ni President Xi. Or, hasn’t he done that already during his numerous state visits to China? Is this really a commander in chief our armed forces are proud of? Is this a president that the more than 16 million Filipinos who voted for him are proud of?... In his little mind, submission to China is the only way for us to survive as a nation—or if need be, to become a province of China. Neigh-
boring leaders in Southeast Asia who have remained steadfast against China in the South China Sea no matter the cost must be shaking their heads in embarrassment. MARIUS V. CANONOY, canomarivil@gmail.com, 27 April 2021 18. Duterte’s high approval rating boggles the mind China has never had it so good under Mr. Duterte, who has virtually quitclaimed in its favor everything we own in the WPS. Surveys invariably show most Filipinos distrust China. It boggles the mind, then, what idiotic standard Filipinos are basing on so high an approval rating of Mr. Duterte, such that his sycophants are now urging him to continue (mis)ruling this country one way or the other beyond 2022. ANGELI O. MARCONI, angzheli5555@gmail.com, 21 April 2021 17. Fair warning to Duterte’s PR boys Marcos employed/hired excellent and top notch PR practitioners (among them former senator Kit Tatad, the late Ka Blas Ople, and other ghost writers) whose job included bombarding/feeding the media with “praise releases,” to project Marcos as a good leader under the “Bagong Lipunan” (New Society). President Duterte, a third-rate trying-hard copycat of Marcos, is idolizing the Marcos propaganda system. Despite the massive Marcos propaganda, history was not kind to him and still truth prevailed. This should serve as fair warning to Mr. Duterte’s PR boys. ISIDRO C. VALENCIA, elcidvalencia60@gmail.com, 10 June 2021 16. Utter humiliation for the country, thanks to our President There was supposedly public outrage over the Chinese ambassador’s remark that the Arbitral Award in favor of the Philippines was nothing but a “piece of waste paper,” but seriously, what’s the fuss all about? The Chinese envoy was just repeating what President Duterte had said months ago! Mr. Duterte himself saw no value in the Philippines’ victory, so why blame China for agreeing with him totally? Thanks to their duly elected president, our people deserve this utter humiliation. MARCELO “JR” GARCIS, hello. garci.jr@gmail.com, 16 July 2021 15. Duterte will stay in power, by hook or by crook [President Duterte] really has no choice but to stay in power. Despite all his “bravado” about taking full responsibility and bluster about going to jail himself for the alleged EJKs committed by his minions, he now seems more like desperately seeking a continuum of his “immunity” as president, by hook or by crook, to escape criminal prosecution. A win by the opposition in 2022 is for him not an option. Mr. Duterte badly needs an absolutely reliable “president” who will have no problem step-
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DEAR EDITOR: 36 MOST-READ LETTERS FROM OUR READERS IN 2021
are, however, one of the most vulnerable to mental health risks. Unicef’s report “The State of the World’s Children 2021” revealed that suicide is the world’s fourth leading cause of death among 1519 year-old people. One child dies by suicide every 11 minutes. In an updated 2021 global school-based student health survey by the World Health Organization, 17 percent of high school students disclosed that they have attempted suicide at least once, 12 percent admitted to have seriously considered attempting suicide, and 11 percent said they made plans on how they would commit suicide. In the last year, two out of three submissions to the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Young Blood column contained significant mental health themes such as suicide, grief, fear, and anxiety. Many children have mixed feelings at the prospect of returning to in-person school. We have been so successful in scaring them about the dangers of the outside world, only to push them back to in-person classes soon without much psychological preparation. We kept promising them that staying home and sacrificing their social connections would allow them to return to normal after the pandemic, only for them to discover that school—and life—would never be quite the same. We are not just dealing with a COVID-19 pandemic. We have been dealing with a worsening mental health pandemic for years, especially among young people, and it’s about time we start paying attention. -----------------aatuazon@up.edu.ph
ping aside for his immediate FROM G2 succession. Only his daughter,
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OVID-19 cases in the Philippines have reached 2.8 million and counting, despite the country having one of the longest lockdowns in the world. We are also one of the very few countries that have not resumed in-person classes for children since the start of the pandemic (though a pilot test for such started this month). The country’s response early in the pandemic was an almost single-minded focus on keeping people inside their homes. But the implications of a lockdown response—being kept at home, being cut off from opportunities for physical and social activities, the rise of job and financial insecurity as businesses struggled to survive—have had devastating consequences to our nation’s mental health. While we currently stand at under 20,000 active cases of COVID-19, we have at least 3.6 million Filipinos who suffer from a mental, neurological, and substance use disorder, according to the Department of Health. In early 2020, the National Center for Mental Health hotline received 400 to 700 calls a month, rising to 1,600 calls early this year. Thirty percent were suicide-related calls, compared to 10 percent before the pandemic. When we opened free telepsychotherapy services at the University of the Philippines Diliman Psychosocial Services (UPD PsycServ) to the public between April and May 2020, we had an average of 41 daily sign-ups, peaking at 166 sign-ups a day. With less than one mental health worker for every 100,000 Filipinos and only 7 percent of public and private hospitals equipped with a psychiatric ward, the country was simply unprepared for a mental health crisis of this magnitude. Deprivation and ban strategies such as lockdowns and quarantine have long been known to have negative mental health consequences. Clinical depression, for example, is characterized by inactivity and loss of motivation. This is best addressed not just with medication and psycho-
SAFE SPACE
ANNA CRISTINA TUAZON
IN THE LAST YEAR, TWO OUT OF THREE SUBMISSIONS TO PDI’S YOUNG BLOOD CONTAINED SIGNIFICANT MENTAL HEALTH THEMES therapy, but also through behavior activation where we help clients engage in behaviors that activate pleasant emotions. This is usually through outdoor physical activity with access to sunlight and through social activities with their social support network. Lockdowns cut off not just basic but also psychological needs. People cannot cope on their own without environmental resources and social support. You can’t stave off hunger when there’s no food; you also can’t keep mentally healthy when you are deprived of mobility and social connection. Another factor that worsens mental health is uncertainty and lack of control. Early in the pandemic, the government response was such that
we wouldn’t know what curfews and travel bans would be enforced until the night before. This led to, among others, panic-buying at the grocery stores, which caused supply shortages and to scrambling to find living arrangements that could withstand the lockdown. The relentlessness of the pandemic—and the severe safety protocols that had to be put in place—has also led to a sense of fatigue which, for some, can lead to hopelessness. Children have been the collateral damage in our lockdown response to the pandemic. They have been kept at home the longest out of any age group, and there are discussions yet again on banning children under 12 years old from public spaces. They
Sara, fits the bill; or alternatively, his gofer, Bong Go—both already seen to be positioning for the greatest hoax this country has ever known. GRACE PO-QUICHO, gpq_rstu@yahoo.com.sg, 1 July 2021 14. The president of a republic, or a spoiled brat? So after two weeks of being missing in action and engaging in his usual disappearing act, the President has finally shown himself. Not bothered a bit by his Houdini-style “leadership,” President Duterte even justified his action: “Noong nawala ako ng ilang araw, talagang sinadya ko yun. Pag kinakalkal mo ako, parang bata, pag lalo mo akong kinakantyawan e mas lalo akong gagana...” Is this the president of a republic, or a spoiled brat? Mr. Duterte’s actuations, demeanor, and overall conduct are unworthy of the Office of the President. Instead of talking about the problems of the nation, he utilized his time-tested technique of engaging in diversion. Millions of our countrymen are unemployed and a great number have lost their jobs and income due to the ECQ, but rather than using his power and virtual platform to unite the people and give them hope and inspiration, the President instead once again threw a tantrum. JOSE MARIO DE VEGA, mario_the_radical@yahoo.com, 16 April 2021 13. What DepEd Secretary Briones is not telling Duterte and the country Based on his praise for Education Secretary Leonor Briones for calling out the World Bank (WB) on its report describing the sorry state of our basic education which she claimed insulted and shamed the Philippines, President Duterte has full confidence in the fitness of the former to head the education agency. In fact, he swallowed hook, line, and sinker all she told him about her grievance, because despite the Department of Education’s (DepEd) acceptance of the reports from the Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM)—the bases of the offending report—he said he hoped “a more accurate report based on the latest data will be made.” [But] Briones cannot wash her hands of our terrible showing in international student assessments because she could have stopped the “mass
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practice the MTBMLE/K-to-12 curriculum beginning reading program, but opted to own them instead. PACIFICO VEREMUNDO, pveremundo@yahoo.com, 2 Aug. 2021 12. Leni and Isko: An unbeatable tandem, and still the wisest choice If elected, Leni would surely roam the countryside, launching livelihood projects, starting pro-poor programs, setting administration policies for economic progress. When elected, Yorme would delve into urban planning, undertake environment mitigation, begin poverty eradication in blighted population centers. Leni would likely not compromise on human rights or tolerate verbal and psychological abuse. Yorme would condemn brutal crimes and merciless killings. Leni’s diplomatic ways will enhance our relations abroad. Yorme will fight pollution and garbage and ensure clean surroundings, in the process attracting similar global movements and alliances ... Presenting one unified opposition ticket is no longer feasible. But millions remain uncommitted and vigilant, evaluating options, seriously concerned about how their vote will affect our country. EFREN L. QUIRAY, efrenquiray0618@gmail.com, 7 Oct. 2021 11. Let Roque go already Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana were one in calling out China for its militia vessels swarming Julian Felipe Reef, which is within our exclusive economic zone. China’s excuse was that its vessels were merely seeking refuge from bad weather. Locsin and Lorenzana did not buy that, and told the intruders to leave. But Palace motormouth Harry Roque just could not help seeking the spotlight for himself. Without being asked, he joined the conversation with his own stunning takeaway on the issue: Julian Felipe Reef is not within our EEZ (and therefore China is free to do whatever it wants to do there)! Who was this guy speaking for? China? STEPHEN L. MONSANTO, lexsquare. firm@gmail.com, 20 May 2021 10. What has happened to Cayetano? Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano was reported as saying there’s no doubt in his mind that President Duterte
“will be a good vice president” if he decides to run... We used to admire Cayetano for his anti-corruption and graft-busting crusade when he was a senator, going relentlessly after the corrupt administration of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her husband. What in God’s name has happened to him? Has he become so power-hungry and corrupt himself that he would now have no problem stooping to that level of idiocy? DANICA MONICA R. MORTIZ, danicarmor8008@ gmail.com, 6 July 2021 09. Harry Roque should be disbarred Many years ago, Roque had no problem branding China as a “rogue state” for claiming that the West Philippine Sea is “its lake and, hence, part of its internal waters.” He vehemently denounced that claim as “utterly bereft of legal merit.” Now, in exchange for the dubious fame and fortune attached to his main duty of sanitizing all the codswallop that President Duterte spews in constant praise of China, Roque has no problem eating his words. Lawyers have been disciplinarily dealt with for lesser instances of malfeasance. GEORGE DEL MAR, gdmlaw111@ gmail.com, 19 July 2021 08. Sara Duterte’s arrogance Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s dismissive response to the suggestion of Vice President Leni Robredo to consider learning from the experience of Cebu in handling the COVID-19 challenge is basically a mirror of her father’s arrogance. VP Leni is the second highest official of the land. Her role is to care for everyone’s welfare, regardless of political color or regional affiliation. Sara should welcome any idea that would be helpful in protecting and improving the welfare of her constituents. And contrary to what she assumes, her constituents elected her as their mayor, not as their empress ... Like her father, Sara Duterte bristles at the thought that others may have better ideas. But public service is not a contest, especially during this pandemic. Everyone should extend help whenever and however they can. We need to work together instead of worrying about who gets the credit. Sara’s pompous declaration that “there will be a proper time to attack my performance in this pandemic if she dares to run for president” is totally un-
called for and disingenuous. ED DAMES, edames.fci@gmail.com, 17 June 2021 07. 1Sambayan should be more inclusive 1Sambayan’s main objective should be to put up a viable candidate against Sara or another Duterte proxy. But its initial lineup of candidates is not impressive. For instance, Sen. Panfilo Lacson has been excluded because he does not meet one of the criteria of one of the convenors. Just because he was one of the proponents of the anti-terrorism law is not a strong argument against his selection... I suggest 1Sambayan draws up a list of winnable candidates, who from their present and past actuations will not be expected to repeat the failures of the Duterte administration, like the pro-China and anti-West Philippine Sea policies ... I am thinking that personalities like Franklin Drilon, Richard Gordon, and Lacson should be included in that list. RENE TORRES, rentorres@yahoo. com, 21 June 2021 06. Leni is a persistent consensus-builder I personally know Leni Robredo to be a persistent consensus-builder, someone who is willing to cooperate even with people who do not belong to her party especially when urgent public service concerns cannot wait. As a Camarines Sur representative, Robredo worked tirelessly with municipal and barangay officials who were never on her side. I can still vividly remember that rare moment when a Camarines Sur representative and the provincial governor who were not allies spent long hours discussing health concerns in our district, which included building and operating a hospital in one of our larger towns ... As my former boss, Robredo gave me sleepless nights, as I had to talk with difficult people. It was hard. I don’t miss it. But with that in mind, it’s easy for me to say that someone like her is best for the motherland. JONAS CABILES SOLTES, terio1947@gmail.com, 7 Sept. 2021 05. Where is Locsin’s pride and dignity? Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. was said to have already “lodged 100 protests” against China for its various incursions in the West Philippine Sea. But honestly, who is keeping count? China
has never taken his protests seriously as President Duterte continues to play footsie with President Xi Jinping. When will Locsin realize how irrelevant he has become? Where is his sense of pride or dignity? A self-respecting foreign secretary would have resigned his post at the slightest hint that his boss, the president, does not care to have his back on a matter he is so passionate about. HENRICO HENSON, ricoh_lace@yahoo.com.ph, 9 June 2021 04. Christine Dacera’s case: A pharmacist’s perspective As we wait for the completion of the investigation on Christine Dacera’s case, I would like to share at least five recommendations as a pharmacist, hoping these could help investigators. 1) It is crucial to look into Dacera’s recent doctor and pharmacy visits (if any), or her belongings, for possible presence of prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, and herbals, especially those acting on the cardiovascular system. Examples are those drugs for allergy, common colds, and flu. 2) Alcohol intoxication (either accidental or intentional) is more likely to happen in females. 3) It was reported that there were soft drinks during the party, aside from alcohol. Soft drinks usually contain caffeine which is a CNS stimulant and can narrow blood vessels. 4) What was their party food? Was it full of cholesterol? Cholesterol is linked to cardiovascular problems. 5) Did she have an infection? Some infections can cause cardiovascular problems, even aneurysm ... Amid all these, the country needs better police investigation and forensic investigation systems. TERESA MAY BANDIOLA, bandiolateresamayb@gmail.com, 12 Jan. 2021 03. Reject Duterte brand of leadership President Duterte has turned our country into a topsy-turvy land defined by a culture of violence and lawlessness; extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses; a crisis of confidence in institutions such as the Supreme Court, the Senate, House of Representatives, Commission on Elections, and local government units; wanton violation of the Constitution and democratic system; suppression of the freedom of speech and of the press; historical revisionism, political patronage, and rampant militarization; jarring mass poverty, widespread corruption, unaccomplished benefits for workers and
the poor, and inferior health programs; complaisant subservience to China; and the betrayal of our country and people with his divisive, incompetent, autocratic leadership. Such ills must not describe the next presidency. We have a chance at real change in 2022. PIT M. MALIKSI, pitmaliksi2004@yahoo.com, 9 July 2021 02. Pacquiao on Duterte: Pot calling the kettle black He was a topnotch absentee in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate. He has treated being a duly elected lawmaker as a mere sideline. He continues to draw all the emoluments, perquisites, and pork barrel of his position while pursuing almost full-time his boxing career. The Philippine government has also accused him of being a tax cheat. Against this backdrop, I can only marvel at where Manny Paquiao gets the temerity to harbor thoughts of running for president. In his recent kerfuffle with President Duterte over corruption in the present administration, Pacquiao claims that he is neither a liar nor corrupt. I beg to disagree. Let me hasten to add that I am not taking Mr. Duterte’s side on the matter. I believe Pacquiao’s claim that corruption in government is rampant. Pacquiao, however, is subliminally accusing Mr. Duterte of corruption. This is a textbook case of the pot calling the kettle black. CARNELL S. VALDEZ, nellvaldez@yahoo.com, 6 July 2021 01. Blatant anomaly in Sen. Bong Go’s functions Bong Go is an incumbent senator. Despite his election to that national position, he has remained the most prominent member of President Duterte’s presidential entourage. He is, aside from being Mr. Duterte’s gofer, a de facto Cabinet member, right-hand man, enabler, and overall surrogate. His being all of the above almost all of the time, and on Senate time from where he draws handsome compensation, is a blatant violation of the separation of powers. It smacks of out and out opportunism. By acting as he does, Go demeans his exalted position as senator, a mandate given to him as a gift by the Filipino people to whom he owes a sacred obligation that must be discharged with utmost honesty and fidelity. CARNELL S. VALDEZ, nellvaldez@yahoo.com, 16 Sept. 2021
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The bureaus: PDI’s eyes, ears (and edge) in the provinces By the Inquirer Bureaus @InqNational With its four news bureaus operating out of major regional centers in the cities of Baguio, Legazpi, Cebu and Davao, the Inquirer can claim to be truly a national newspaper able to bring to its readers’ attention the diverse issues affecting local communities from Luzon to Mindanao. Even before the first bureau was formally established in the Visayas in 1991, the Inquirer, through its provincial correspondents, served as the nation’s eyes and ears in the countryside through reports on local politics, peace and order, natural and man-made disasters, business, the environment, agriculture, heritage and culture, tourism and indigenous peoples issues. Here are some of the year’s major stories from the Northern and Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao bureaus that resulted in government action or policy change and made an impact on the lives of communities across the nation.
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON
Saving Subic mangroves It was in June this year when Jen Velarmino-van der Heijde, spokesperson for the environmental group Save Subic Bay Mangroves Coalition, contacted the Inquirer to check on the P50-billion Subic-Clark Railway
appeals by the coalition as reported by the Inquirer. Batan said Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade had instructed the contractor of the China-funded railway project to build a logistics terminal away from the mangrove forest. Tugade had also told the Inquirer that he had “already given instructions to revisit the alignments.”
VEGETABLE HUB Farmers in the Cordillera take their harvests to the Vegetable Trading Post in the Benguet capital of La Trinidad for distribution across the country. They have been calling the government for stronger protection from the influx of cheap smuggled vegetables that has worsened their losses amid the pandemic. —KIMBERLIE QUITASOL Project, which they deemed as a real threat to the 42 hectares of the watershed forest reserve of the Subic Bay Freeport. Prior to this, the group had already created a private group on Facebook, called Save Subic Bay Mangroves, to share information and prepare its plan of action on this issue. Several public hearings were also held among government representatives and members of the free port community. It is one of the big-ticket infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration that is aimed at supporting major economic hubs and the expansion of expressways. In January this year, the Philippines and China signed the project’s commercial
contract, making it among the “highest funded government-to-government project between the two countries.” The construction of the railway is expected to be completed in three and a half years. The Inquirer published its first story on the issue on June 29, tackling the concern of the coalition about the project’s adverse environmental impact. According to the group, threatened by the project are the 30-ha Binictican-Malawaan patch and the 12-ha Boton site of the free port’s 62-ha mangrove area, which is protected by Proclamation No. 926 issued in 1992 by then President Corazon Aquino. It then asked the government to construct the project
away from the mangroves. “We are not antiprogress. What we are asking [the] proponents is to change the project’s alignment away from mangroves, forests, water sources and population. The [affected] 42-ha [area] is part of the last remaining mangrove stand in Subic Bay and to put a railway through there does not make any sense,” Van der Heijde told the Inquirer. In less than a week after the story was published, Timothy John Batan, Department of Transportation undersecretary for railways, said in a television interview that the government would ensure that the mangroves in Subic Bay Freeport’s watershed reserve would be protected. It was a direct response to
Smuggled vegetables In August, farmers in Benguet province managed to gather evidence that smuggled carrots had flooded the local markets to their detriment. Although the farmers had been alerting the Department of Agriculture (DA) about the imported fresh vegetables being sold at Divisoria market in Manila, they also sought the help of the Inquirer to expose the illicit activity. On Sept. 27, the Inquirer published a story citing the investigation made by the Benguet farmers that revealed small warehouses near Divisoria had allegedly been releasing imported vegetables to the Metro Manila market whenever Benguet vegetable prices rise. According to Augusta Balanoy, president of the Highland Vegetable Multipurpose Cooperative, they had secured samples of the imported carrots that were shipped in boxes with markings that indicated that the produce came from China. She said they also wrote to
the Bureau of Customs to address vegetable smuggling. Balanoy told the Inquirer that smuggled vegetables had made life more difficult for Benguet farmers still reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Lorna Menzi, who facilitates the shipment of produce at La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post, said orders had dropped drastically due to the proliferation of imported carrots in Metro Manila, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro City. The following day, Assistant Agriculture Secretary Noel Reyes, at a televised Laging Handa briefing, said the DA would investigate the presence of cheap, imported carrots in the local market. Reyes assured the farmers that the government does not allow the importation of fresh vegetables, except when frozen and processed. He also vowed to confiscate smuggled produce and file cases against those who brought them into the country. In October, an alliance of farmers’ groups in the Cordillera region also sought stronger protection of local farmers, which the Inquirer also published to follow the smuggling of vegetables. The Alyansa Dagiti Pesante iti Taéng Kordilyéra (Apit Tako) said vegetable imports and smuggling had worsened farmers’ losses during the pandemic.
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China’s oil exploration device When fishermen in Pangasinan province found a device reportedly used in exploring for oil in the West Philippine Sea in July this year, the Inquirer was the first to report about the incident through its sources from the local fishing communities. The equipment, which bore Chinese characters, was recovered about 239 kilometers (129 nautical miles) northwest of Infanta town in Pangasinan. An expert confirmed that the object was ocean bottom seismometer or OBS, according to the Peoples Development Institute (PDI), a partner of the fishers federation Bigkis ng Mangingisda. Bigkis members found the device and turned it over to the Philippine Navy. PDI executive director Aurea Miclat Teves told the Inquirer that the fishermen, led by Randy Megu, were working on their “payao,” an artificial reef used to attract and catch fish in open waters, when his companions saw what looked like a buoy at 4:30 a.m. on July 1. Teves described the OBS as “a kind of seismic observation system” placed at the bottom of the sea to detect both manmade and natural seismic activity and also widely used in oil exploration. Professor Jay Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, a consultant of PDI, said the installation of the instrument should have been with prior consent of the Philippines because it is in the country’s exclusive economic zone and could be used for exploration and exploitation of natural resources, “so the Philippines has the right to withhold consent.” On the same day the story was published by the Inquirer, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the government was looking into the report and that the equipment had been sent to the Department of Science and Technology to be studied. “We don’t know what it’s for, because that was found by fishermen... Until then, we can’t conclude what they are,” Lorenzana said at a July 21 briefing. Despite that, the fishermen are still pressing the Department of National Defense to release the result of its investigation into the matter and the information contained by the instrument. INQ
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People’s action vs Palawan split With no machinery and inspired only by a call to unite, civic and religious groups in Palawan led the crusade in ensuring that the province remained intact, rejecting the law that sought to divide the island province into three smaller provinces during the first electoral exercise held in the country in a pandemic setting. In various news stories by the Inquirer since last year until the run-up to the plebiscite, the exercise was described as a “David and Goliath” fight—civil society, collectively known as the One Palawan Movement, openly challenged the pro-division “3-in-1” group that was spearheaded by the provincial capitol even after the Supreme Court in March 2020 upheld the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 11259, the law proposing the division of Palawan into three provinces—Palawan del Norte, Palawan del Sur, and Palawan Oriental. The Apostolic Vicariate of Taytay, with 22 parish churches stretched in 12 northern Palawan towns, joined the One Palawan Movement’s call and actively participated in the campaign urging the voters to vote “no,” pointing out that “the law was mostly due to personal
SURREAL LANDSCAPE Gullies formed by the action of water on the ash-laden slopes on Taal Volcano Island create a dream-like landscape in what was once a thriving community. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE and vested political interests, and not to pave the way for genuine human development.” The church’s move became a ground for its disqualification to be an official elections watchdog, a traditional task it generally held under the banner of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. The legislative hall in the Palawan provincial complex echoed celebratory cheers from the opposition when the provincial board of canvassers on March 16 declared the final and official results of the plebiscite. The challenge of Taal When Taal Volcano erupted on Jan. 12, 2020, shooting up a steam and ash column as high as 15 kilometers and with ash reaching areas as far as Bulacan, the evacuation plans laid out across 10 towns and two cities around the Taal lake and volcano were put to the test. As Taal’s restiveness dragged on for days and caused the forced evacuation of close to a million people in the 14-kilometer circumference danger zone in the mainland, the Inquirer’s team of correspondents, reporters and photojournalists were also tested in covering the event which ultimately caused the national government to declare the Taal Volcano Island a permanent danger zone and prohibited the return of residents. Around March 2020, those who were in charge of the situation around Taal were facing another challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic. The to-do lists of those responsible for housing the evacuees suddenly had another item which was curbing the spread of the viral disease by implementing health protocols and travel restrictions. A year after the eruption, the Batangas provincial government said 117,625 families (434,092 individuals) sought shelter in government evacuation centers. The same report broke down the cost of damage: P747 million on crops, P900 million on aquaculture, P34 million on livestock, and P97 million on roads and bridges. Even after its eruption in January, the Inquirer continued to follow the events around Taal and how these affected the lives of people who called the areas around it home. The surrounding tourist spots reliant on the spectacular view of Taal like those in Tagaytay also suffered due to closures brought about by the volcanic eruption and the pandemic well into 2021. In June 2021, just when life was already near normal for those who were affected by the eruption, volcanic smog or “vog” caused by continued volcanic sulfur dioxide gas emission from Taal Volcano forced residents in Talisay town in Batangas to stay indoors. Taal remained restive until July 2021 but toward the end of the month, the local government sent evacuees home after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology lowered Taal Volcano’s alert level to 2 following decreased unrest. Volcanologists, however,
PALAWAN VOTE Merly Villanueva, a 79-year-old resident of Barangay Panacan Uno in the southern Palawan town of Narra, assisted by her son, casts her vote during this year’s plebiscite to decide the province’s three-way split. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO nating its contract with B.M. Marketing. The department is seeking legal opinion from the Office of the Solicitor General on how to deal with the matter.
ART IN PROTEST Members of the Youth Advocates Through Theater Arts gather along the Dumaguete City boulevard to protest a proposed reclamation project that is expected to bury several hectares of seagrass beds and coral reefs along the coastline of the provincial capital of Negros Oriental. —PHOTO COURTESY OF HERSLEY-VEN CASERO
SAVED AND PROTECTED Mangrove forests scattered in six different locations inside the Subic Bay Freeport cover some 62 hectares. The government has promised to review the alignment of the Subic-Clark railway project to avoid destroying mangroves in this economic zone in Zambales. —PHOTO COURTESY OF SAVE SUBIC BAY MANGROVES COALITION
warned that there should be no room for complacency. New Bicol gateway After 11 years under construction spanning three administrations, Bicol International Airport (BIA) at Barangay Alobo in Daraga, Albay, is finally serving the public as the newest gateway to the region this December. The Inquirer has been closely following over the past decade the progress of this premier airport in Bicol that some skeptics described as another pipe dream. The P4.5-billion airport project, which began construction in 2008, was initially scheduled for completion in 2015 but funding problems and the burning of construction equipment by suspected communist rebels had delayed its completion, the Department of Transportation said. The BIA, the first international airport south of Metro Manila, was inaugurated by President Duterte in early October this year. The first flights it served that same month were domestic daytime flights only as the country continued to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, movement restrictions and slow vaccination rollout. By November, the BIA’s runways were already serving domestic night flights. Once fully operational, the BIA is expected to accommodate a total of 2 million passengers a year, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.
He also announced that the BIA would be ready for international flights this year subject to International Civil Aviation Organization review. INQ
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Cebu underpass controversy It started with several documents from a source who trusted the Inquirer. These were letters to officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), seeking investigation of a contractor who falsified its track record in order to bag the P711.8-million underpass project in Mandaue City, Cebu. The letters were largely not acted upon until the allegation was exposed by the Inquirer. The DPWH eventually scrapped the deal with B.M. Marketing for falsifying its track record after its investigating team found that the 29.04km road project, called Black Mountain Eco-Commercial and Industrial Land Development Work, which B.M. Marketing claimed to have completed in nine months, was “non-existent.” But the contractor fought back and continued with the project, a 952-meter, four-lane underpass on United Nations Avenue in Mandaue leading to the Marcelo Fernan Bridge that connects Mactan island to the Cebu mainland. DPWH Undersecretary Robert Bernardo told the Inquirer that the court had restrained the department from termi-
Reclamation projects At least two reclamation projects in Central Visayas have made the headlines the past few months after drawing staunch opposition from different groups. The “Smart City” reclamation project in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, and the “Seafront City” project in Consolacion town, Cebu, were denounced by some sectors that feared the destruction of their marine environments and its impact on coastal communities and workers. After a series of protests which were reported by the Inquirer, Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Remollo on Sept. 10 withdrew his request to the city council to grant him the authority to enter a memorandum of understanding with Metro Manila-based firm contractor E.M. Cuerpo Inc. for the 174-hectare reclamation project. The deferment came weeks after the Negros Oriental provincial board passed on final reading an ordinance, which if signed into law, will ban all foreshore and offshore reclamation activities in all marine protected areas in the province. While Remollo has softened his stance on the reclamation project in Dumaguete, local officials in Consolacion, Cebu, remained firm in its decision to build a 235-ha reclamation project in the town. Separate letters to President Duterte have been sent by fisherfolk-families as well as tricycle and motorcycle-for-hire drivers, some vendors and employees of seven shipyards that would be eased out by the project. They continued holding protest actions in a bid to stop the project that will not only kill the marine environment but their livelihood as well. Leyte mining Like those opposing the reclamation projects in Cebu and Dumaguete, mining operations in MacArthur town, Leyte province, had been met with a barrage of opposition from villagers. Residents of Barangay Maya, where black sand mining is being undertaken by the MacArthur Iron Sand Project Corp. (MIPC), claimed that the activity would ruin the environment and cause flooding especially during bad weather. The series of stories published by the Inquirer about the town’s mining activity prompted the mining operator to open its doors to the public so they will see that their operations are safe and will not destroy the environment. The MIPC stressed that they are consciously making efforts to “reinstate” the mining areas to their original state and become productive again. INQ
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Bangsamoro transition The Bangsamoro peace process is a major continuing story in Mindanao in the last 20 years. Although the process
is mainly between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), both are conscious about harmonizing this with an agreement involving the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The MNLF inked a peace deal with the government in 1996 while the MILF had the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2014. In keeping with the CAB, Congress passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law in 2018. Its ratification in early 2019 led to the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Since March 2019, the BARMM has been governed by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), an interim parliamentary body of 80 members, all appointed by President Duterte. Mr. Duterte also appointed MILF chief Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim as its interim chief minister, the region’s top executive. The BTA will continue to exist until the regular members of parliament shall have taken office after an election. The Inquirer’s Mindanao Bureau looked at the Bangsamoro transition as not just the replacement of ARMM with BARMM. It also includes, among others, the transformation of once guerrilla strongholds into peaceful and productive communities, the former MILF warriors learning the ropes of governance, some 40,000 fighters returning to civilian lives and their firearms “put beyond use.” Also, there are required adjustments in the national government’s policies and processes to further create a favorable environment for Moro autonomy and self-determination. This year, the Bangsamoro transition hit the headlines after the BTA asked for a threeyear extension, meaning, the scheduled 2022 election for parliament members be postponed to 2025, so they will have more time to work on building the institutions of the regular BARMM government. The BTA reasoned that their work was hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside this, questions were also raised about the delayed rollout of normalization measures that should have facilitated the decommissioning of additional 14,000 fighters and their weapons. Our stories sought to put these issues within the context of the long-term goal of building peace in Mindanao. Marawi rehab Independent monitors of the Bangsamoro peace process have held that the fallout of the Marawi siege, which was perpetrated by Islamic State (IS) militants, will have a significant impact on the peace and security of Mindanao. This is why the Mindanao Bureau has focused on the travails of rebuilding Marawi City from the ashes of the five-month war in 2017. Our reporting of the state of debris and bomb clearing in 2019 set the record straight about the readiness of the ground for the start of infrastructure building, against the lofty promises
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We have also pictured how the more than 80,000 people live their lives in cramped transitional shelters with slim access to social services and basic needs such as water supply, and how these hardships were compounded by the pandemic as their breadwinners lost income sources due to lockdowns. Apart from chronicling the rise of public infrastructure and documenting the number of new houses built for the evacuees, our stories also looked into issues hounding the displaced families’ return to their former homes and communities such as conflicting ownership claims over land, and the lack of compensation for damaged private properties. The persistent reporting on the issue of compensation could have driven congressional action on proposals on how to indemnify the Marawi families who lost their properties to the siege. After passing muster in the House of Representatives, the measure is now pending before the Senate special committee on Marawi City rehabilitation. Tampakan project Due to its potential ecological impact, the $5.9-billion Tampakan project has been controversial ever since it was hatched in 1994, and a 25-year mining contract inked in 1995 under the Philippine Mining Act. When operational, the project is estimated to yield an annual average of 375,000 tons of copper and 360,000 ounces of gold, in
MARAWI HOUSING Soldiers dig a ditch in a permanent shelter site for residents displaced by the Marawi City siege in 2017. —DIVINA M. SUSON concentrate, over 17 years. The tenement, touted as Asia’s largest known untapped reserve of copper and gold, covers 10,000 hectares straddling across the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Davao del Sur, including critical watershed areas. But the mineral extraction is projected to be concentrated in South Cotabato. The issues surrounding the project have been widely reported, especially when its contract faced constitutionality questions before the Supreme Court in 1997, stalling the project. The court upheld its legality only in 2004. Another obstacle to operation is the 2010 environment code of South Cotabato that bans the open-pit method of mining. Due to the project’s economic significance and potential ecological impact, the Mindanao Bureau is all eyes on movements and developments, whether on the ground or in the policy decisions of relevant
agencies that regulate mining. Through correspondent Bong Sarmiento’s focus on the issue, it was revealed that the mining contract, which was supposed to expire last year, was extended by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in 2016 by another 12 years to make up for lost project time. Sarmiento was also able to dig up the restoration of the project’s environmental compliance certificate, issued in 2013 but was scrapped by Environment Secretary Gina Lopez in 2017 due to noncompliance of its conditions. The Inquirer chronicled the moves to have the ban on openpit mining enshrined in Cotabato’s environment code lifted, first through the local court, and now with a strong lobby on provincial legislators. —REPORTS FROM TONETTE OREJAS, KIMBERLIE QUITASOL, ROMAR MIRANDA, MAR ARGUELLES, MICHAEL JAUCIAN, ADOR VINCENT MAYOL, IRMA FAITH PAL, KARLOWE BRIER, JOEY GABIETA AND RYAN ROSAURO INQ
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EDITORIAL GROUP • EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Volt Contreras EDITORS: Chato Garcellano, Gibbs Cadiz, Oliver Teves, Robert Jaworski Abaño, TJ Burgonio, Stephanie Asuncion, Yasmin Lee Arpon ART DIRECTOR: Elizalde Pusung DESIGNERS/ILLUSTRATORS: Maria Belen Belesario, Anre Roberto Castañeda, Clarissa Crisologo, Joyce-Marie Monponbanua, Rachel Anne Revilla, Albert Adrian Rodriguez, Ritche Sabado, Maximillan Villanos, Rene Elevera RESEARCH HEAD: Ana Roa RESEARCHERS: Marielle Medina, Kathleen de Villa, Arianne Suarez, Jackieh Cobrador PHOTO CHIEF: Rem Zamora EDITORIAL SYSTEMS HEAD: Mary Ann Perido EDITORIAL PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS: Tere Cruz-Tenorio, Inna Christine Cabel, Nastasha Verayo-De Villa,Veronica Tapia, Angelique Frades, Mikkah Factor EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Nathalie Adalid, Louie Greg Rivera DIGITAL PRE-PRESS UNIT: Noel Cabie, Mariel Lazaro, Concepcion Heronilla, Kevin Macalindong IT TEAM: Noel Millan, Alvin Mancilla, Kelsy Tamayo, Emil dela Cruz, Ever Samson SUPPORT SERVICES: Allan Mortel, Carmina Tunay BUSINESS GROUP • PRESIDENT AND CEO: Rudyard Arbolado VICE PRESIDENT FOR SALES AND IGC GROUP HEAD: Katrina Mae Garcia-Dalusong ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER: Joy Santos-Pilar ADVERTISING SALES TEAM: Cherry Lou del Rosario, Ana Salera Cruz, Shyn Lising-Quitain, Glenn Mark Velasco, Novie Joy Barayuga, Bryan Angelo Talite, Kris Angelo Roberto, Michelle Galang, MJ Quevedo
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Inquirer Foundation won’t be idled by pandemic As the pandemic dragged on for a second year, the Inquirer Foundation did not let the health crisis slow down its programs and advocacies, which in 2021 focused on youth development and outreach projects. 3 new scholars Through the foundation, the Philippine Daily Inquirer welcomed in September a new batch of scholars selected from among student applicants from the University of the Philippines - College of Mass Communication. Accepted into the program for school year 2021-2022 were UP journalism majors Jasmine Abbygail Boiser, Angel Dale Yabut and Jean Loriel Raoet, who were all in the running for magna cum laude. The scholars must maintain a grade not lower than 1.75 and demonstrate a passion for journalism as a future career. Meant for promising students who need some financial assistance to finish their course, the grant comes with a monthly stipend, book and school supply allowance, telecommunications and Wi-Fi connectivity allowance, and a gift upon their graduation. Immersion program The program offers an opportunity for internship and employment in the Inquirer within six months after graduation.
WHERE THERE’S A NEED The Inquirer Foundation partnered with the Rotary Club of Vigan and the Ilocos Sur Medical Association in a medical mission and relief drive for victims of Typhoon “Maring” in October. The company’s internship and immersion program also admitted senior high school and college students from the International School Manila, University of Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle College of St. Benilde-Antipolo, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Colegio de San Juan de Letran and City of Malabon University. The interns were assigned to the editorial, marketing, special projects and distribution departments. But like in most companies during the pandemic, their training and exposure to Inquirer operations could only be done online as the various departments were still largely maintaining workfrom-home arrangements.
In partnership with the Metrobank Foundation and the Department of Education, the Inquirer Foundation also joined the celebration of National Teachers Month in September, For its part, the foundation shared on its website the “Prayer for Educators” as a way to express appreciation and gratitude for the teachers, considered among the everyday heroes of the pandemic. Food relief, medical mission The foundation also continued to extend support to the families of the paper’s provincial correspondents, newsboys and contract workers under the administration department, and to the loved ones of Inquirer employees
who died this year. Also in September, as a partner of the Fight Against Hunger program of the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED), the foundation distributed aid packs consisting of vegetables and other nutritious food items to schoolchildren from low-income families. Around 70 pupils of Old Balara Elementary School in Quezon City received such assistance from the company, which is supporting the ACED campaign until July 2022. The Inquirer also helped raise funds for the victims of Typhoon “Maring’’ in October. With the help of the Rotary Club of Vigan and the Ilocos Sur Medical Association, relief goods were distributed and a medical mission was conducted on behalf of the foundation, benefiting more than 500 families. SMDC donation In October, SMDC president Jose Mari Banzon and SM Supermalls president Steven Tan handed over a P500,000 check donation to Inquirer Group of Companies CEO Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Inquirer Foundation executive director Connie Kalagayan and Tessa Prieto-Valdes to support the Inquirer Foundation in its advocacies and scholarship programs. INQ
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Between the need to shoot and the need to stay safe T
he Philippine Daily Inquirer photojournalists have always been at the forefront of important and historic events—from erupting volcanoes and devastating typhoons, to gun battles between government forces and rebel groups. When people are fleeing from danger, we go in the opposite di-
rection to document and report what it is they are escaping from. With our trusty cameras, we become the eyes of the people and front-seat witnesses to events and upheavals. But COVID-19 was a different animal, so to speak. Despite our experience covering other disease outbreaks, this pandemic present-
ed completely new challenges that will leave a lasting impact on how photojournalists work in the field and interact with the people in front of our lenses. Technology became an ally to many under lockdowns. Reporters are now doing interviews and covering press conferences online. Inquirer editors are preparing the
next day’s paper remotely from the relative comfort of their homes. The work-from-home solution works for most writers, but not for photojournalists, who cannot shoot remotely. There is still no technology for that, none that is available to the Inquirer. We simply cannot work from home. Since the hard lockdown in March
2020, we have been out on the street and other places, recording images of the lives of Filipinos affected by this pandemic. We are, after all, front-liners, too. Below are some of the personal thoughts as well as memorable coverages from PDI staff photojournalists during this pandemic. —REM ZAMORA, PHOTO SECTION CHIEF
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LYN RILLON ‘A sensory relief, but disturbing’ As a photojournalist, 2020 and 2021 were an unusual time to document situations which we have never experienced. I was struck by the eerie sight of deserted highways when the first lockdown was implemented in mid-March 2020. Once, I photographed a man on an electric scooter counterflowing all by his lonesome down Manggahan Floodway in Pasig City. The absence of bumper-tobumper traffic and street noise was a sensory relief but also disturbing. With hardly anyone else on the road, I felt that I was in the Twilight Zone. By April 2020, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) had already set up isolation rooms and intensive care units for COVID-19 patients. There was disciplined urgency among doctors, nurses, aides and other workers as they suited up in white personal protective equipment (PPE) in front of mirrors, just meters away from COVID-19 patients in the “Red Zone.” Giving a personal and human touch to their protective suits, they wrote uplifting words and Bible verses, or drew happy images on their PPE before putting them on to cheer up patients who see them. In return, the medical front-liners receive morale-boosting letters from children expressing gratitude and support, which are posted on the PGH public board. Others found special ways to show their appreciation for the overworked hospital staff. Jeanill Migraso and her family and friends cooked meals
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at their apartment in Cubao, Quezon City, and had them delivered to health workers and others on the front line like security guards at PGH and other hospitals. Stories about people like this young woman inspired others to show that nothing can stop people who want to help and be part of the solution. By July 2020, thousands unable to return to their home provinces because of travel restrictions were stranded in Metro Manila, waiting for rides out of the city. One way station, Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, was packed with people and belongings. A police band played popular tunes, trying to entertain the throng preparing for an exodus you thought you would only see in the movies. It was a surreal scene. One memorable coverage in the middle of the pandem-
ic was the wake for former President Benigno Aquino III in June 2021. It felt like it was only yesterday when I covered him, albeit briefly, during his time in the Senate, the 2010 presidential campaign and his presidency. It felt odd listening to his former Cabinet members and friends speak of him in the past tense. The masked mourners stood about a meter apart from each other inside the Church of the Gesu at Ateneo de Manila Manila University where they brought the urn containing his ashes for the eulogy. Seeing a portrait of him left by an unknown supporter at his grave alongside his parents finally made me realize that this leader’s work was done. During the surge in COVID-19 cases in August 2021, Pasay City General Hospital quickly
reached full capacity. So dire was the situation that a woman with breathing difficulties who was brought there on a tricycle had to wait outside the emergency room (ER) because there was no space for her inside. It took a while before the hospital staff finally wheeled her into the ER. She died about 10 minutes later. The pandemic has not really changed the way we cover events. We still do visual reporting of situations that are either different, relevant, uplifting or those that can direct attention to and help solve problems. The risks to our health and safety are quite higher than before COVID-19, but we manage as best as we can to protect not just ourselves but also the families we return to at the end of the day.
RICHARD REYES ‘Battle between life and death’ Covering the pandemic is not easy. Being news photographers, we have to be in the front line to document one of the most historic episodes of the century. While most people stay inside their homes for safety, we have to go outside to witness and record what is happening, otherwise, there would be no pictorial document of this pandemic. People and history are important. Maybe a hundred years from now, people will be curious about what happened during the pandemic that broke out in
MARIANNE BERMUDEZ Framing the intangible Shooting photographs during the COVID-19 pandemic has been both challenging and compelling. I had to force myself to adapt to the new conditions after the virus came into the country in 2020 almost without warning. The last thing I covered before the lockdown was the aftermath of the Taal eruption in January 2020, and everyone then was frantically looking for face masks as protection against the ashfall, not knowing that they would need these for something much more harmful just a few months later. I consider myself one of the lucky ones since I haven’t caught the virus, even though
I was a close contact myself. I admit that I get scared whenever I go to hospitals. Once, I covered long lines of people waiting for admission. I was safely shooting outside the hospital, but there was this fear that I might get infected and spread the virus to my family when I get home. I have been an Inquirer photographer for 10 years, but this is the first time that I found it difficult to photograph an intangible subject. How can you really tell whether people are grief-stricken or terrified, furious or exhilarated, if their faces are covered? How can you capture an invisible subject? I guess that’s why my most memorable coverage during the pandemic was the burial of Baby River, the 3-month-old girl who died after she was separated from her mother, activist Reina
Mae Nasino, who was detained at the Manila City Jail. The 23-year-old mother was covered in a protective suit from head to toe, in handcuffs, and surrounded by armed guards during the burial at Manila North Cemetery in October 2020. I couldn’t see her face but I could almost feel her grief as she wiped the tears from her eyes, which were the only visible parts of her body. It was heartbreaking. The pandemic changed the narrative storytelling. I have met people, not just photographers but front-liners and blue-collar workers who made personal sacrifices to perform their jobs. Seeing them pushes me, keeps me going and makes me persevere in my work, and I hope that the pictures I take result in policy change on frontline issues.
Wary of a ‘sneak attack’ When the government announced on March 12, 2020, that a lockdown will be imposed in Metro Manila and most parts of Luzon to arrest the growing number of coronavirus infections, panic gripped many people who swooped into supermarkets and grocery stores to stack up on food and other essentials. I was supposed to take a leave that month to visit my octogenarian parents overseas and bring them home for good but I had to postpone the trip because of the lockdown and the worldwide pandemic restrictions. The ways we, as photojournalists, performed our duty have evolved since then. While on coverage, we now have to protect ourselves with face masks and PPE, or bunny suits, when
2020. Those thoughts will help photojournalists realize that gambling with their lives to serve history is acceptable and that one day when they look back on what they have done, they will take pride in having these “stills” available for people searching for images of this moment in time. But no coverage is more significant than another. You have to treat each coverage to the full extent of your ability or else you will suffer from fighting with your inner thoughts. Did I do everything I could to get the best picture? Every time you document, you have to immerse yourself in what’s at hand to fully understand the situation and
get better pictures. If you can, you have to put soul into your subject and its surroundings, and don’t hold back. Inside the COVID-19 ward, you will be witness to the battle between life and death, the dedication of the health workers, the determination of the sick to live, the devotion of the priests to giving them spiritual comfort and the united effort of everyone fighting this pandemic. I am deeply thankful to the people who give me the merest opportunity to have their photographs taken and those who help me take pictures. I am hopeful that these images that I capture with my camera will serve their purpose in history.
the situation merits. I remember that back when face masks were scarce, I got an industrial type normally used for protection against hazardous chemicals. In addition to cameras, we now have to carry a bottle of disinfectant like alcohol. When planning to cover “hot zones” like hospitals or lockeddown communities, we have to give prior notice to the news desk to help us assess the risks involved. One memorable coverage I had was at Quezon City General Hospital in August this year. The hospital’s chapel was transformed into a COVID-19 intensive care unit because of a surge in infection in the capital. Although I was taking all the necessary safety precautions, it was unsettling and a feeling of anxiety enveloped me then. We were assured by the medical staff that it was safe to take pictures from a distance and they offered protective suits
to photographers who wanted to get closer to the patients. But I decided to shoot with a telephoto lens behind the massive doors of the chapel near the nurse’s station. I also wanted to show the entirety of the chapel with a large cross at the center. After the shoot, I bought a sprayer, prepared a disinfectant bleach solution and asked a colleague to spray me all over. I disinfected my cameras as well. Every photographer in the field is cautious and we help each other survive the pandemic. Since food establishments were closed during the lockdown, it was very difficult for us to find places to eat. I started having a heavy breakfast and bringing bread and a can of sardines so I have something to eat when I get hungry while on assignment. Going out in the field every single day is a daunting experience because of possible infection. Even if one takes vitamin
C and other supplements to strengthen the immune system and practices stringent health protocols, the unseen enemy can launch a sneak attack. For us working in the field, it is not a matter of “if” we are going to be infected but “when.” And so, it was in March 2021 that I caught the virus. I was the Inquirer’s patient No. 7. But fortunately, not only did I survive, I did not experience the common COVID-19 symptoms like fever, shortness of breath, or loss of sense of smell and taste. But it took me almost a month of home quarantine before going back to work. The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in people. Some discriminate by treating an infected person as a pariah, an undesirable. But there are kindhearted souls who help by extending emotional support and care. For us to live through this pandemic, we must have compassion and help each other to heal.
NIÑO JESUS ORBETA ‘Terrified of the needle’ The first time I heard about COVID-19 was around January 2020 and I thought it was just another outbreak like SARS or the Asian or swine flu. Little did I know that it was going to be a pandemic that would disrupt everyone’s lives for the next two years, and counting. The first few months were challenging. When the first lockdown was implemented, almost everywhere I went, I saw anxiety and fear. I, too, become anxious while shooting in crowded places. Although I kept covering the news with utmost caution, I never really understood the gravity of the situation until I tested positive for COVID-19 in September 2021. I was surprised since I was always careful during coverages. Even though I was asymptomatic, the days I spent in isolation was quite difficult. But I was grateful that I did not have to be confined
in a hospital or an isolation center and just quarantined at home for 14 days. One of the most memorable photos I took during the pandemic was of a woman getting a rapid test at Marikina City Hall in May 2020. It was the height of the pandemic with more than 15,000 positive cases that month, more than half in Metro Manila. The place was filled with people wanting to be tested for the virus. I was taking a few shots of individuals getting their blood tests from the second floor of the building, when the morning sun shot a spot of light solely on this woman whose arm was outstretched for a health worker. The resulting photo was pretty straight forward but it was also unnerving since many people around her were terrified of the needle. One of the lessons I’ve learned during the pandemic was to adapt to the new normal. As photojournalists we all want to capture the decisive moment, but no picture is worth your life.
MPIC GARNERS HIGHEST ‘A’ LEVEL RATING FOR EMERGING MARKETS COMPANY IN GLIO/GRESB ESG INDEX Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), the country’s leading infrastructure investment company, achieved the highest level “A” rating in the Global Listed Infrastructure Organization/Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GLIO/GRESB) ESG Index for Infrastructure, being one of the 19 out of 160 to accomplish this feat. Companies must derive 75 percent of EBITDA from infrastructure groups such as energy, transportation & storage, communications infrastructure, transportation, renewable energy, and regulated network utilities to be eligible for the GLIO/GRESB ESG Index in the same way as the parent GLIO Index. “Metro-Pacific is the highest ‘A’ rated emerging markets company in the 2021 GLIO/GRESB public disclosure assessment. Only 19 companies achieved the highest level ‘A’ rating from the 160 in the GLIO/GRESB ESG Index for infrastructure,” said GLIO CEO Fraser Hughes. “Metro Pacific can be proud it finds itself in this top group for ESG transparency ʍ it’s a fantastic achievement”. MPIC’s Chief Finance, Sustainability, and Risk Officer Chaye A. Cabal-Revilla responded to this honor, saying “The work that we have done and continue to do has been a progressive contributor to national development - the figures we disclose, the stories we tell, and the impacts we make, are testaments to that. It is essential for us to
This recognition underscores the solid effort of the group to standardize and elevate the level of reporting based on global standards, keeping us at par with internationally recognized companies. Jose Ma. K. Lim MPIC’s President and CEO
provide transparent, accurate, and sufficient information for all our stakeholders, so they are aware of the impact of the decisions we make in operating our businesses.” On the GLIO/GRESB ESG Index The Global Listed Infrastructure Organisation
(GLIO) is the representative body for the $3 trillion market capitalization listed infrastructure asset class. Through research, education, events, and promotion, GLIO raises investor awareness for the asset class and is supported by its membership structure. In total, GLIO corporate members represent well over $1 trillion in market capitalization, or $1.5 trillion in Enterprise Value. GRESB provides financial markets with standardized and validated company data on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). Created in 2009, it has become one of the main ESG references for real estate and infrastructure investments worldwide, used by 140 institutional and financial investors to inform their decision-making. MPIC’s President and
CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim said, “This recognition underscores the solid effort of the group to standardize and elevate the level of reporting based on global standards, keeping us at par with internationally recognized companies.” GRESB collected data from Annual Reports, CSR/ Sustainability Reports, Integrated Reports, and corporate websites, using a presence/absence approach. For the purpose of determining the Public Disclosure level, quality of the information disclosed nor the sustainability performance of the organization were left out of GRESB’s judgment, solely depending on the level of disclosure. As GRESB Participants and public disclosure constituents, MPIC reviewed the GRESB Infrastructure
It is essential for us to provide transparent, accurate, and sufficient information for all our stakeholders, so they are aware of the impact of the decisions we make in operating our businesses. Chaye A. Cabal-Revilla MPIC’s Chief Finance, Sustainability, and Risk Officer
Public Disclosure Indicators to assess whether the data collected by the GRESB team is accurate, up-to-date and complete. The index uses GRESB Public Disclosure (PD) scores, which evaluate the transparency of publicly available sustainability information to calculate weights in the index.
The scores essentially evaluate the development and formalization of policies and objectives for each ESG pillar; the creation of channels to report data to various stakeholders in line with various standards; the development of systems to collect and aggregate operational data from various facilities consistently and in a standardized format, as well as setting long-term targets for these operational metrics; the regular engagement with stakeholders (investors, employees, customers, community) and involve them in discussions and decision making; and the ability to assign ESG ownership roles within the company by giving responsibility to specific employees, or creating ESG committees, to ensure regular monitoring of ESG takes place. “This ranking manifests the MPIC Group’s deeper commitment to nation building, through our infrastructure projects that have contributed to the transformation of the country’s growing economic landscape,” said MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan. MPIC’s level of disclosure is aligned with its commitment to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by managing its impacts, improving its performance, and tracking its progress against the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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PREVENTION MEASURES IN PLACE, REGULAR TESTING CONDUCTED
By Nathalie Grace Adalid @adalid_nathalie The Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) has received its first Safety Seal Certification from the Makati City government for the COVID-19 prevention measures put in place at the company’s main office building. The seal, issued shortly after a surprise inspection of the building on Nov. 25, signifies compliance with the minimum public health standards (MPHS) set by the government as part of the response to the pandemic. Aside from local governments, the Department of
PDI BUILDING EARNS COVID ‘SAFETY SEAL’ FROM MAKATI GOV’T
Trade and Industry can also issue a similar certification to business establishments, which is renewable every six months. “Supposedly, we intended to start the application process for the certification this coming January as we anticipate the return of the employees. The general objective was to boost their confidence and assure them that our office is safe,” said Renato Lao, the PDI vice president for human resources and administration. ‘’We eventually applied much earlier, in the second week of November, and it was quite surprising because the in-
spectors immediately came to audit us,’’ Lao recalled. Aside from measuring compliance with MPHS, the audit also lauded the company’s adoption of the StaySafe.ph digital contact tracing application, which the skeleton workforce reporting at the PDI building on Chino Roces Avenue started using in June 2021. Since then, each entrance to the building, including those for vehicles, has been provided a QR (quick response) code that all employees are required to scan to get an online form that must be filled out so their movements
and interactions can be monitored while inside the premises. It was a precise contact tracing method that the inspectors particularly commended. The audit also lauded the preparations taken by the company for a possible surge in COVID-19 infections among employees, especially those who might start showing symptoms while in the building. It particularly took note of the wellequipped isolation tents put up for such purpose. Lao said the tents had served as a holding area for four employees so far. Management has also been
conducting and shouldering the cost of antigen tests on about 30 employees every two weeks, particularly on maintenance staff and field personnel, security guards and drivers. All employees are also required to follow the “one entrance, one exit’’ policy and observe physical distancing and wear face mask. According to Lao, 98 percent of PDI’s 257 employees have been fully vaccinated and that the company has recorded no active COVID-19 cases among the employees since November. INQ
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER A certification of the company’s compliance with government-set protocols for COVID-19 prevention.
Inquirer Read-Along finds way to reach kids amid lockdown By Arianne Suarez @Team_Inquirer
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ot even the pandemic could stop young readers from gathering together, virtually at least, to celebrate the joy of learning through books and storytelling. This year, even with many restrictions still in place, characters and stories of hope came alive through reading sessions livestreamed on Inquirer’s Facebook pages. Inquirer Read-Along, the company’s longest-running advocacy program, continued to find ways to give inspiration to kids especially as their families cope with the lockdowns. “Initially, we thought it would be a struggle to continue the Read-Along this year. I am very happy that despite the pandemic and the challenges that go with it, we were able to deliver love for reading to thousands of children virtually,” said Connie Kalagayan, Inquirer assistant vice president for corporate affairs.
The 11th Inquirer ReadAlong festival, held on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27 in time for National Reading Month, culminated this year’s storytelling sessions and paid tribute to Filipino front-liners, the “everyday heroes” who have stepped up amid the health crisis. Sponsored by Metrobank Foundation Inc., the festival was opened by Inquirer associate publisher Juliet Labog-Javellana. It featured Read-Along ambassadors and celebrity readers Kim Atienza and Mon Confiado, Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipino awardees Sabrina Ongkiko and Police Lt. Col. Jonathan Pablito, and veteran storytellers and educators Ann Abacan and Dyali Justo. First online session Launched in 2007, the Inquirer Read-Along is a corporate social responsibility project that aims to spread the love of reading among children and, in the long term, help build a nation of informed readers. The program’s core team includes the company’s corporate
ONCE UPON A CLICK One of the newspaper’s longest-running advocacies adapts to the times to connect with the socalled multiscreen generation. affairs department, its research and library sections, Inquirer Lifestyle writing editor and Read-Along host Ruth Navarra-Mayo, Inquirer Entertainment’s Marinel Cruz and Nikko Gonzales, and the Inquirer.net multimedia team. After a long pause due to the pandemic, the project resumed and kicked off the 10th festival by holding its first-ever online session on Nov. 21 last year. Students from partner schools attended the event via
TEAM ENERGY ENABLES DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN THIRTEEN NORTH LUZON MUNICIPALITIES Thirteen Local Government Units in Region 1 will benefit from various development projects resulting from the operations of TeaM Energy’s Sual Power Station in Pangasinan. “Through our partnership with the Department of Energy, the Regional Development Council-Ilocos Region, and thirteen local government units in Region 1, we hope that these projects will contribute to the development of the beneficiary municipalities, and aid their leaders in their COVID-19 recovery efforts,” said Froilan Gregory H. Romualdez III, Head of External Affairs, TeaM Energy. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) among TeaM Energy, the Regional Development Council-Ilocos Region and thirteen beneficiary LGUs was recently signed for the implementation of the projects under the Energy Regulation 1-94 (ER 1-94) program of the DOE. The program stipulates that communities hosting power generating facilities are entitled to financial benefits of one-centavo per kilowatt-hour from the electricity sales of generating companies. The projects for the thirteen LGUs are funded from the ER 1-94 regional share. Host barangays, municipalities and provinces of power generating plants also receive similar benefits. The thirteen projects are in various stages of implementation. In Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, 50 units of 30-watt amber solar streetlights along the national highway were installed to improve the safety of motorists in the area. Several municipalities in Ilocos Sur will also benefit from the ER 1-94 program. In the municipality of Salcedo, upland barangays will be equipped with solar streetlights for the safety and security of the residents in these communities. In the town of Cabugao, a flood-control system is set to be constructed through the installation of gabion baskets to prevent soil erosion. A brand new pay loader, which will be used for infrastructure projects in the town of Lidlidda, will also be procured through the program. In the municipality of Santa, a seedling nursery is set to be established to aid farmers raise their crops and help address food security in the area.
TeaM Energy External Affairs Head, Froilan Gregory Romualdez III (left), together with Regional Development Council Vice Chairman for Ilocos Region, Nestor G. Rillon, sign the memorandum of agreement for the implementation of projects in thirteen beneficiary LGUs under the Energy Regulation 1-94 program of the Department of Energy. Other projects scheduled for implementation in the province of Ilocos Sur are the installation of solar powered streetlamps along the tourism line in Sto. Domingo, the improvement of the Anaao Child Development Center in Alilem, the improvement of the farm to market road in Sta. Lucia, and the provision of support and assistance to the One Barangay, One Product Development Program in Sigay, Ilocos Sur. In the province of Pangasinan, a multi-purpose gym is set to be constructed in the town of Calasiao. While a MOA for the construction of the farm-to-market road at Barangay Maniboc in Lingayen was already finalized. In addition, a brand new backhoe loader was procured for the town of Alcala, while a 10-wheeler dump truck will be provided for the municipality of Bolinao. TeaM Energy operates two coal-fired power plants: the 735 MW Pagbilao Power Station in Quezon, and the 1,200 MW Sual Power Station in Pangasinan. It also has a 50% stake in the 420 MW Pagbilao Unit 3 Power Project in Quezon, and a 20% stake in the Ilijan natural gas project in Batangas.
the Zoom platform where they interacted with storytellers and won prizes in the question and answer segment, much like during face-to-face activities. Role models In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development’s TB Platforms Project, the program featured Atienza, Abacan, Justo, TV host and Miss Philippines Earth 2019 Janelle Lazo Tee and professional storytell-
er Rich Rodriguez. Despite the shift to an online channel, the program has stayed true to form, making learning extra fun through interactive sessions led by passionate storytellers who are also held up as role models for the kids. Apart from Atienza, Confiado and Tee, other celebrities who joined the virtual reading sessions last year included musical theater actor Arman Ferrer, actresses Pauleen Luna-Sotto, Marlann Flores and Barbie Forteza, and actor Marco Alcaraz. Sponsored sessions Professional storytellers and regular readers like Abacan, Justo, Rodriguez and Posh Develos also returned to again share their time and talent with the children. On Jan. 25 this year, Ferrer and storytellers from Sophia School led the first session of 2021 which was held in partnership with Adopt-a-Kid, an outreach project of Sophia School for public elementary school students in Meycauayan City, Bulacan province.
This was followed on May 15 by a session sponsored by Hanabishi Appliances, with Luna-Sotto, Justo and Abacan presiding over the activity that paid tribute to mothers. Luna-Sotto, a first-time Read-Along storyteller but a seasoned veteran as far as her young daughter, Tali, is concerned, urged parents to encourage youngsters to develop their imagination through books. On May 22, Globe at Home sponsored a session featuring Flores, Rodriguez and Develos, who told stories promoting sustainable living and care for the environment. On June 19, tales celebrating the many faces of fatherhood took center stage; Alcaraz, Rodriguez and Develos were back, dependable as ever. And on Sept. 11, a session sponsored by Herbalife Nutrition Philippines and with Abacan returning for duty taught kids about the importance of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle especially for those forced to stay indoors during the pandemic. INQ
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PDI’s Intensive Care Corner: No dearth of Good Samaritans By the Inquirer ICC staff @Team_Inquirer
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mid the coronavirus pandemic, or in spite of it, the Inquirer continued to help people who are suffering from debilitating health problems and in dire need of financial support to obtain or continue receiving proper medical attention. The paper’s Intensive Care Corner (ICC), a public service initiative that started around mid-2000s, seeks to provide them assistance by bringing their plight—their diagnoses, the tests or procedures required, the expected costs—to the attention of readers and appealing for donations. It started out without much fanfare as a nonregular, ad hoc item in the Metro pages under then section editor Ester Dipasupil, after she received letters from indigent patients asking for help. As the requests started to pile up, the short writeups
about the patients also became more frequent and were eventually given the name ICC by then editor in chief Letty Jimenez Magsanoc. From the very start, the newsroom staff members in charge of the “Corner’’ had established a system for verifying each case before publication. Since November last year, the ICC has published stories about 46 people who, on top of their medical condition, also had to deal with the effects of the pandemic, like loss of family income and limited mobility due to quarantine restrictions. Of the patients who were featured, the majority or 30 were age 14 and below, seven were 15 to 24 years old, six were between 25 and 64 years old, while three were age 65 or older. As the Inquirer looks back on the year that was, here are some of the patients featured on ICC, their stories both a source of inspiration and a reassuring sign that there’s no dearth of Good Samaritans among the newspa-
per’s loyal readers despite these challenging times.
PRINCESS IHMET CABANA
From five, the number of tumors in 6-year-old Princess Ihmet Cabana’s remaining eye has gone down to two, thanks to regular treatments that became possible with the help of donors who responded to her father’s appeal for help in August. James, a farmer in Alcala, Cagayan province, heard about the ICC program from the parent of another patient while he and his daughter were at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City for treatment. The younger Cabana was diagnosed with eye cancer in 2019, when she was only 3 years old. After tests showed that both eyes had cancerous tumors, she underwent six cycles of chemotherapy
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BEFORE AND AFTER Princess Ihmet Cabana wears an artificial eye in place of her right one which was removed through surgery last year (top photo) due to cancerous tumors. With boosted confidence, the 6-year-old nows attend in-person classes as a Grade 1 pupil at a public school in Alcala, Cagayan province. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
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PH COVID timeline: Got vaxxed, got out, then came Omicron 2ND YEAR OF PANDEMIC On Jan. 30, 2020, the Philippines confirmed its first case of coronavirus infection in the Philippines—a Chinese woman traveling from the Chinese city of Wuhan. In March that year, following the first reported case of local transmission, the government imposed strict quarantine restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, which has so far infected more than 2.83 million people in the country and claimed the lives of 48,712 people as of Dec. 1, 2021.
2021 January 13 - The Department of Health (DOH) reports the first case of the more infectious UK variant.
In the second year of the pandemic, the government launched its vaccination campaign amid a surge of cases arising from the more infectious COVID-19 variants. The Inquirer has been monitoring the vaccination rollout, which kicked off in March, to provide information on the situation of vaccine supply and the progress toward achieving herd immunity. One in three Filipinos or about 36.8 million have been fully vaccinated while about 14.9 million have received one jab as of Dec. 1.
PH vaccine supply as of Dec. 1 The Philippines has received more than 140 million doses of vaccine, more than enough to inoculate 70 percent of the country’s 110 million population.
Doses administered 89,070,292
1 - The government ends its three-day national COVID-19 vaccination drive with over 7.6 million Filipinos inoculated, falling short of its already lowered target of 9 million individuals.
December
Total vaccines administered daily as of Dec. 1
30 - The DOH records 425 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest number it has tallied in 2021 and marks the seventh consecutive day the country recorded cases less than 1,000.
The government has set a daily jab rate of one to 1.5 million doses per day starting in November as the country continues to get a steady supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
26 - Due to the threat of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the IATF suspends its initial guidelines allowing entry of fully vaccinated tourists.
Doses remaining 56,334,118
25 - IATF announces plans to allow fully vaccinated tourists from most countries to enter starting Dec. 1 as it seeks to revive the economy.
14 - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
17 - IATF approves the Commission on Higher Education’s proposed phased implementation of physical classes for all programs.
17 - Cases breach 500,000 mark. 28 - The FDA grants EUA to AstraZeneca vaccine.
15 - A hundred public schools nationwide start in-person classes, making the Philippines the last country in the world to do so after more than a year of distance learning due to the pandemic.
February 22 - The FDA grants EUA to China-based drugmaker Sinovac’s CoronaVac. 28 – The Philippines receives first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines: 600,000 doses of vaccine made by China-based Sinovac Biotech.
8 - PH records its first case of the B.1.617.1 COVID-19 variant, according to the DOH.
March
4 - Malacañang announces that Metro Manila will be placed under a more relaxed alert level 2 starting Nov. 5 until Nov. 21. Children may now leave their residences, as more activities and establishments will be allowed to operate and the capital region eases into the less restrictive alert level amid the downtrend in coronavirus cases.
1 - PH launches COVID-19 vaccination drive, with health workers, soldiers, police and government officials first in line to get the donated CoronaVac shots.
DOSES DELIVERED TO THE COUNTRY
2 - The DOH reports emergence of South Africa COVID-19 variant with six cases.
145,404,410
4 - The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines developed by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca arrives in PH.
3 - Vaccination for children age 12 to 17 without comorbidities starts.
8 - The Philippine Statistics Authority, citing preliminary estimates of the labor force survey, says some 4.5 million Filipinos were jobless in 2020 for an average unemployment rate of 10.3 percent, the highest in 15 years.
November 15 - Vaccination for college students and minors age 12 to 17 and with comorbidities starts. Only COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are so far approved for minors 12 to 17 years of age.
13 - The DOH reports first case of the P.1 COVID-19 variant from Brazil - The country records 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, the most in a single day in almost seven months. 27 - After months of general community quarantine (GCQ), the government announces that the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus will be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) again from March 29 to April 4 due to a huge rise of COVID-19 cases. NCR Plus includes Metro Manila and the provinces of Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal and Laguna.
April
11 - PH starts its COVID-19 vaccination of the general population.
October 16 - Government pilots its new alert level system in Metro Manila, placing it under alert level 4.
September
Hayat-Vax Sinopharm** COVID-19* 1,000,000 100,000
Johnson & Johnson-Janssen Moderna 3,240,850 14,607,060
Sputnik Light 5,000
Sputnik V 10,000,000
Sinovac (CoronaVac) 54,030,400
Pfizer-BioNTech 37,672,830
OxfordAstraZeneca 24,748,270
19 - IATF approves the move to place Metro Manila and Laguna under MECQ from Aug. 21 to 31.
3 - Palace spokesperson Harry Roque announces that the ECQ in NCR Plus is extended for another week, from April 5 to April 11.
15 - The DOH announces the detection of the first case of the COVID-19 Lambda variant.
12 - NCR Plus is placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until April 30.
6 - The DOH reports that the Delta variant has been detected in all cities and the lone municipality in Metro Manila. - NCR Plus is placed under ECQ until Aug. 20 to slow down the further spread of the Delta variant.
26 - Cases breach 1 million mark. 28 - President Duterte announces that NCR Plus will remain under MECQ until May 14.
COVAX facility 35,135,420
Procured 101,080,820
Donated 9,188,170
May 1 - The first batch of Russian-made COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, consisting of 15,000 doses, arrives in PH. 10 - The first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech-developed COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX facility, totaling 193,050 doses, arrives in the country.
31 - Delta variant is now the most dominant variant in the country, according to the World Health Organization.
11 - The DOH reports the first Delta variant case in the country—a 37- year-old who returned on April 10 from overseas work in Oman and was tested on April 15.
group starts. Front-line personnel in essential sectors including those in the government, private sector, and uniformed personnel are under the A4 group.
June
27 - The first shipment of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, consisting of 249,600 doses, arrives in PH.
7 - Vaccination of essential workers from the government and private sector under the A4 priority
30 - The Bayanihan 2 law lapses with P18.4 billion in allocations remaining unspent, leaving a number of critical pandemic response programs unfunded, including P6.6 billion for laboratory testing service and hiring of health workers; P4.6 billion for digital learning resources and student subsidies; and P4.6 billion for service contracts for
SOURCE: Inquirer Archives, NTF-COVID-19, National Vaccination Dashboard COMPILED BY: Marielle Medina and Ana Roa, Inquirer Research INFOGRAPHIC DESINGERS: Maximillan Villanos and Elizalde Pusung
public transport workers.
July 16 - PH records its first locally acquired cases of the more infectious Delta variant, prompting authorities to reimpose stricter coronavirus measures in some areas as health experts seek bans on social gatherings.
August 30 - Mr. Duterte approves the proposal of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) and mayors to place Metro Manila under ECQ from Aug. 6 to 20
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PDI’S INTENSIVE CARE CORNER: NO DEARTH OF GOOD SAMARITANS FROM J1 although she lost her right eye which the doctor said could no longer be saved. To keep her remaining eye, Cabana needed to undergo laser therapy and chemotherapy (melphalan injection) every month, which cost P47,770 per session. Missing even just one treatment, the doctor warned, could leave her blind forever. But due to lack of funds and the pandemic-induced lockdowns that made traveling from Cagayan to Quezon City harder and more expensive, the girl’s prospects further dimmed. “We would seek donations from the municipal government, social welfare office and local officials. At times, we would ask our relatives for money for our transport fare in going to Manila,” James said. He and his wife also did their best to save up money for the monthly treatments by growing and selling vegetables. At night, James would fish in the nearby Cagayan River and sell his catch the following day. When his daughter’s story came out in the Inquirer, James said he received text messages and phone calls from more than 20 people. Many sent donations while others offered prayers and messages of hope. “The donations were a big help. We could now go to Manila and seek treatment for Princess regularly. Since August, she has not missed a single session,” he added. Also, instead of going
MUCH IMPROVED Mable Zane de Leon has suffered from multiple congenital illnesses since birth (left photo) and remains dependent on a mechanical ventilator. But her mother says the 4-year-old’s condition has improved as she is now more active and aware of her surroundings (right). —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS around to ask for donations, James said he and his wife had more time to grow vegetables and were able to earn more from selling their harvest. Cabana needs to undergo two more chemo sessions. This month she must also take an MRI test to be sure that the cancer has not spread, especially to the brain. If the result is favorable, the doctor will just have to check her progress every six months instead of monthly, James said. To those who responded to his ICC appeal, the farmer from Cagayan offered his “wholehearted thanks for their kindness in helping Princess get regular treatment to become better.”
MABLE ZANE DE LEON Windy de Leon of Tondo, Manila, is just happy to see the
changes in her youngest daughter, Mable Zane. Although the 4-year-old remains dependent on a mechanical ventilator lent by a kindhearted donor, she has been showing much improvement and continues to put up a fight, so to speak. Mable was diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (brain dysfunction caused by lack of oxygen) and microcephaly (smaller head due to underdeveloped brain) months after she was born in 2017. Without a mechanical ventilator, she would “forget” to breathe especially when asleep. She also suffered from seizures due to epilepsy secondary to cerebral palsy. But lately, Mable has become more aware of her surroundings. She stretches, yawns, reacts to pain and discomfort, and stays awake for most of the day. “She is also
more active now,” De Leon said. After her daughter’s story came out in the Inquirer in March this year, De Leon said, they received enough donations to buy more than two months’ worth of medication, pay off the balance in Mable’s hospital bill and set aside some money for emergencies. Some readers also donated milk and diapers. Thanks to Inquirer donors, she said, “we were able to provide for Mable’s needs. We were able to survive.” The pandemic has posed many challenges for the family. She and her husband contracted COVID-19, and he even tested positive twice. Fortunately, they only had mild symptoms and were allowed to just undergo home quarantine. During that period, they relied on Mable’s emergency fund to get by. Her husband, however, is losing his job soon as the company reels from the pandemic. But De Leon is hopeful that the employer he works for will help him find another job. The required swab testing at hospitals before patients can be treated has added to De Leon’s difficulties in looking after Mable’s needs, like when her feeding and breathing tubes require changing. Before the pandemic, the procedure took only 30 to 40 minutes. De Leon used to be able to consult a pediatrician who treated her daughter as family and didn’t charge a fee. But it all stopped when that doctor also got COVID-19. Still, for Mable’s sake, “our faith remains unshaken,’’ she
LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE Althea Enriquez remains as optimistic as the first time she was featured in ICC in 2016 (left photo) and again in July this year. The teenager who suffers from beta thalassemia now has a YouTube channel with over 1,500 subscribers. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
said. “Although I can’t avoid thinking: ‘What if my husband doesn’t find a new job right away? How can we afford Mable’s medication?’” To augment her husband’s income, De Leon recently started selling clothes, bags and other items through her Facebook page—“Warrior Mable Zane”— where she also posts appeals for donations. “There have been generous people who supposedly have bought some items from me but only paid the amount, sometimes more, without collecting the goods,’’ she said.
ALTHEA ENRIQUEZ When Althea Enriquez was first diagnosed with beta thalassemia in 2009, her mother, Jennifer, knew they were in for a long and arduous journey.
The lifelong blood disorder requires constant treatment, blood transfusions and checkups—a taxing experience for Enriquez, now age 15. Despite this, the teenager who has become used to PCMC’s white-walled wards remains optimistic. She still envisions her future to be in a hospital—but as a medical technologist. Trying everything to raise funds for her daughter’s treatments, Jennifer has gotten into online selling to supplement her husband’s pay as a factory worker. They need about P58,000 monthly for Enriquez’s blood transfusions and laboratory tests. After their daughter’s case saw print in the Inquirer for the first time in March 2016, the Enriquezes of
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PDI’S INTENSIVE CARE CORNER: NO DEARTH OF GOOD SAMARITANS FROM J3 Imus, Cavite, received enough donations to sustain her routine treatments. As with all chronic conditions, Jennifer had to strictly follow her daughter’s regimen to avoid complications. Her maintenance medication cost around P1,000 a day, mainly for iron chelation drugs. But the pandemic made it harder for Enriquez to receive treatment, with the lockdowns limiting transportation and fewer people willing to donate blood. Her story was again told in ICC in July this year, giving readers an update on her condition and her family’s predicament. The young girl at the time needed to undergo several emergency tests costing about P20,000. After that second publication, Jennifer received a guarantee letter from a senator, additional support from a local government official, and more cash and encouraging messages from anonymous donors. “Because of (the new) donations, Althea again survived,” Jennifer said when the Inquirer contacted her for this story. Now a Grade 10 student, Enriquez has her YouTube vlog which she started last year and where she talks about living with her illness, her online classes and her hobbies. “She hopes to earn extra income with her videos that can help with her treatments,” the mother said. With her daughter’s condition remaining stable, Jennifer is thankful to Inquirer readers for the help and hopes to see the determined teenager realizing her dreams.
THURSDAY / DECEMBER 9, 2021 WWW.INQUIRER.NET
Still, they delivered: Thanking our newsboys, vendors By Inna Christine Cabel @innacabelINQ
THAT’S OUR BOY Jason Manlapaz quit school after being bullied for his enlarged stomach (left photo). Thanks to generous Inquirer donors, he has not skipped monthly treatments for his condition, beta thalassemia, making him less conscious of his appearance. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
JASON MANLAPAZ
The past six years have not been easy for Jocelyn Bongat after her partner died and she was left as the lone provider for their four kids. It got worse at the onset of the pandemic, when she lost her stable source of income as a house helper, making it harder for her to pay for the medical expenses of one of her children, Jason Manlapaz, who had been diagnosed with beta thalassemia. Now age 13, Jason stopped attending schooling even before the pandemic because his classmates kept teasing and bullying him for having an enlarged stomach due to his condition. Since becoming jobless, Bongat has been selling “kakanin” (rice cakes) and doing her neighbors’ laundry in Binangonan, Rizal province. She turned to Inquirer ICC for help this year—and it has
since made a lot of difference. After Jason’s story was published on May 28, enough donations came to allow the boy to resume his monthly treatments, including blood transfusions and lab tests. “Jason’s treatment has since been consistent and on schedule because of your assistance. We are really grateful to those who helped my son because if it weren’t for them, his medication would not be this regular,” Bongat told the Inquirer. “I have nothing but overflowing gratitude for them.” She continues to sell rice cakes and do laundry to save up for their rent. “I am reserving the donated money for Jason’s treatment,” she said. The boy’s doctor recently recommended surgery to remove his spleen and prevent blood complications. Bongat said she would again be deeply grateful for any further assistance. INQ
When the pandemic was declared in March 2020, the Inquirer had to make some operational adjustments but never wavered in its fearless, hard-hitting brand of journalism for Filipinos being thrust into the “new normal.” But what if the newspaper itself couldn’t even get to the readers’ desks and breakfast tables? With restrictions imposed on the movement of goods, essential or not, it became more difficult to deliver Inquirer print copies across the country. Still, the broadsheet’s loyal network of dealers, vendors and newsboys carried on, making sure the paper would still make it to the subscribers’ doorsteps, especially at a time when they need the most accurate news and information about the health crisis. Loyalty, efforts As a way to thank them, the Inquirer recently resumed its annual “salo-salo” (get-together) for the newsboys and vendors whose role has become more crucial than ever in maintaining the paper’s circulation and brand promotion, according to Roy Mendiola, the company’s national sales manager. “One of our vendors is already 85 years old. They’ve been with the Inquirer since the beginning,” Mendiola said. “Selling newspapers is their
CRUCIAL PARTNERS The Inquirer hands out sacks of rice, along with pandemic essentials like vitamin supplements and face masks, to around 40 vendors and newsboys on Nov. 25 in Parañaque City during the first leg of its annual “salo-salo” (get-together) program. bread and butter, and we want to give back to them and acknowledge them for their loyalty and efforts.’’ Due to community quarantine restrictions last year, the 2020 salo-salo was canceled. This year, however, with the curbs being increasingly relaxed for transportation and gatherings, the company arranged for a sizable group per sales area in Metro Manila to be treated to some food and gifts as the holiday season sets in. “It’s our way of connecting with each other, a sort of annual ‘kumustahan’ and Christmas celebration,” Mendiola said. “We assured them that the Inquirer will continue to deliver news through the print medium, and also introduced them to our digital products, like InquirerPlus.” As of this week, salo-salo programs have been held for
Inquirer newsboys, vendors and distributors in Parañaque City and Manila. The company also handed out sacks of rice, as well as pandemic essentials like vitamin supplements and face masks, to around 40 newsboys and vendors in both areas. Since they had to adjust to changes in regulations from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, as well as to lockdown policies that tend to differ per barangay, “it became harder for them to go outside and sell newspapers,’’ Mendiola recalled. “Of course, they also feared for their own safety (from COVID-19).’’ Their tasks became more difficult due to the pandemic and yet they didn’t give up, and for this the Inquirer owes them its lasting gratitude, he added. INQ
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Dateline: Tokyo (Or how going multimedia feels like gold) By Francis T.J. Ochoa @ftjochoaINQ Most people would want to play it coy on the question of what to expect from them during life’s biggest moments. Perhaps it’s having to deal with the pressure of living up to expectations. Or perhaps because it’s one way of mitigating the negative reaction when those expectations aren’t met. Not Hidilyn Diaz. The first time she talked about her plans for the Tokyo Olympics was in September 2018, at a luncheon hosted by her school, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, in honor of its Asian Games standouts. She was talking about her journey from a career-threatening “did not finish” performance in the 2012 London Games to winning silver in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympiad and then gold in the 2018 Asiad. “I [keep reminding] myself that God has a purpose for me,” Diaz said then. And that her purpose was to rise from that lingering drag of self-doubt since London, put all that behind her, and be an inspiration for young athletes. To conquer her fears, she
‘Right here,’ the Inquirer wrote in one of its first stories datelined Tokyo, ‘is where the gold drought ends’ PLAY NEVER STOPS On YouTube, the newspaper’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics keeps the conversation going long after the action in the arena has died down. must do some chest-beating for her spirit and dream big again— perhaps for a gold in Tokyo. ‘Expect the best’ “My God!” she gasped, giggling before settling back to a sheepish smile. Her hands meet as though in prayer, a finger on her lips. Three years later, just before departing for Tokyo from her training base in Malaysia, where
she would later be stuck because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Diaz and her strength coach, Julius Naranjo, were talking about their preparations for the Olympics when asked about the Filipino weightlifting queen’s prospects. Diaz spoke about leaving “a legacy”—a recurring phrase in her sound bites since her Rio silver. Naranjo was a little bit more direct.
“You can expect to see Hidilyn lift weights that you’ve never seen [her lift] before,” the coach said. “She’s on track. She’s going to put on a show, I’ll tell you that. Expect to see the best Hidiyln to date.” The interview was part of the Inquirer’s special coverage of the Olympics, an extensive coverage that would cut across different media platforms to reach as wide an audience as possible.
COLLECTOR’S ITEM The front page of the July 27 issue had to be revised as Hidilyn Diaz’s feat easily eclipsed President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address as the banner story. The coverage was planned in a somewhat trailblazing way as the Inquirer held the strong belief that the 2021 Games would be the one to finally change Phil-
ippine sports forever. “Right here,” the Inquirer wrote in one of its first stories datelined Tokyo, “is where the gold drought ends.”
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36 PH writers to discover amid the pandemic pause By Ruel S. De Vera @RuelSDeVera For published writers and avid readers, if there was something the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns gave and took away it was time—for authors waiting for their next productive streak of prose or poetry, or for book lovers just trying to catch up on their list of titles to finish. Either way, for anyone always eager to give in to the infectious sways of the printed word, here are 36 contemporary Filipino authors or those of Filipino descent whose works they can consider:
Jia Tolentino
Jerry B. Grácio
Gideon Lasco
Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta
the Philippines and in the United States, starring a paranormal investigator, set in urban Manila but infused with menace from the dark realms of Filipino folklore. The phenomenal “Trese” series went on to reincarnate as a Netflix anime offering. Tan is currently writing the eight volume in the series for Avenida Books.
Gina Apostol–The highly experimental novelist has made quite an impact with the North American releases of her three locally published novels. And then “Insurrecto” just blew up. Apostol is currently working on several books, including one about Juan Luna’s wife, Maria dela Paz Pardo de Tavera. Eros S. Atalia–His Filipino novels are funny and daring (“Ang Ikatlong Anti-Kristo”). Here’s hoping another Atalia book will be adapted into a movie like 2011’s “Ligo na Ü, Lapit na Me.”
“Tarantadong Kalbo Vol. 2”
“Si Janus Silang at ang Hiwagang may Dalawang Mukha”
“Pagkatapos ng Unos”
“Arsenic and Adobo”
Richard Bolisay–Bolisay is the best movie critic in the Philippines right now, period. And all you need as proof is his 2019 essay collection, “Break It To Me Gently,” available from publisher Everything’s Fine. Regine Cabato–A dual threat, Cabato is the Manila correspondent for The Washington Post and a first-prize winner of the Palanca Awards for Poetry in English. Noreen Capili–The author of “Buti Pa ang Roma, May Bagong Papa” knows exactly how to make the Filipino laugh both with her books and scripts. We get to see her work on the screen again with ABS-CBN producing “The Goodbye Girl.” Elaine Castillo–The first on this list to represent the new generation of Filipino Americans writing of the diaspora and its aftereffects, Castillo’s novel “America is Not in the Heart” is ground zero for readers invested in the sometimes harrowing experience of the children transplanted from this country to the United States pretty much against their will. Conchitina Cruz–The author of two excellent books of poetry, the award-winning Cruz will unveil more of her striking verses in new book, “Modus,” out March 2022. Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon–We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: De Leon is one of the most provocative and polished short story writers we have. If you still weren’t convinced by 2014’s “People and Panic,” give her 2020 follow-up, “Lies All Lies,” a try and we’ll bet its 11 bonkers stories will have you agreeing with us.
Yvette Tan–Horror! Food! Agriculture! Yes, Tan writes about all these in her recently updated “Waking the Dead and Other Stories.” So to the plantitos and plantitas who are also game for a good scare, dig in. Lysley Tenorio–Beneath this Fil-Am’s ethereal fiction are edged twists that can be both funny and frightening. Find them out in his 2012 debut “Monstress” and his 2020 novel “The Son of Good Fortune,” the latter a finalist for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and is being turned into an Amazon Prime Video comedy series produced by Riz Ahmed.
F.H. Batacan–The Singapore-based Batacan wrote the first Filipino serial killer novel, “Smaller and Smaller Circles,” which was later expanded and released in the United States in 2015, then adapted into film in 2017. Batacan is working on a prequel. Ronnie E. Baticulon–How does a pediatric neurosurgeon ever find the time to write— and write well? You should ask Baticulon, whose 2019 nonfiction book, “Some Days You Can’t Save Them All,” not only has a self-explanatory title but has proven to be a bestseller. A sequel is in the works.
Albert Samaha
“Tall Story”
“How to Stand Up to a Dictator”
Mina V. Esguerra–The indefatigable founder of #romanceclass remains the best practitioner of what she preaches. Her latest novel, “Your Place Next Year,” is out and there’s a plan for her to work with Komiket to produce romance komiks.
Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta –The spare and elegant lines that make Katigbak-Lacuesta one of the best Filipino poets in English take on a new sharpness in her newest book “College Boys: Poems.” Consider yourself warned—and invited.
Candy Gourlay–An Inquirer original, the London-based Gourlay has been writing novels of Filipino material or themes for young adults. She’s been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, but nothing beats her 2010 novel “Tall Story” being named one of the best books of the last 100 years by the United Kingdom’s largest children’s reading charity BookTrust.
Erin Entrada Kelly–A USbased writer who likes putting Filipino elements in her stories for young readers, Kelly has already earned one of the highest honors in the genre—the John Newbery Medal—for her 2017 work “Hello, Universe.” With a Filipino American as the main protagonist, the novel can find a wider audience after Netflix picked it up for adaption into a live-action movie.
Jerry B. Grácio–He was a scriptwriter for ABS-CBN and an award-winning writer in Filipino (“Bagay Tayo” and “Hindi Bagay”) when the network’s franchise was controversially left to expire and not renewed under the current administration. Grácio resigned irrevocably from the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, and recently agreed to be the second-seat nominee of Kapamilya ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Kapamilya), a party list group representing former ABS-CBN employees in the May 2022 elections.
Gideon Lasco–The Inquirer columnist’s unique combination of disciplines (that of a writer, medical doctor and anthropologist) makes him a source of unique perspectives on nationhood, as can be gleaned from his first book, “The Philippines is Not a Small Country.” In his latest release, the anthology “Drugs and Philippine Society,” Lasco doesn’t mince words or suffer fools.
Genesis Roy Historillo– There have been no Palanca Awards handed out for the last two years, but Historillo won first prize in the latest Maningning Miclat Poetry Awards in Filipino with his thematic collection titled “Ang Hugis ng Pandemya.” Joel Donato Ching Jacob– His coming-of-age fantasy debut novel set in pre-Hispanic Philippines won the 2018 Scholastic Asian Book Awards. Jacob later made it as a finalist in the Singapore Book Awards.
Sophia N. Lee–She won the Scholastic Asian Book Award in 2014 for her young adult novel “What Things Mean.” Lee later released a children’s book and then sold her novel, “Holding On,” to prestigious US publisher Atheneum Books for Young Readers, with fellow Filipino Pepper Roxas recruited to provide the art. “Holding On” will be out in 2022. Alfonso Manalastas–Going back to the latest Maningning Miclat Poetry Awards, it was Manalastas who won the first prize in the English category with the collection “Country Underwater,” which contains epic pieces like “Eulogies” and “Country of Nothings.”
“Hello, Universe”
Mia P. Manansala–Imagine what would happen if somebody died while eating at your Filipino restaurant in Indiana? This sets off the action in Manansala’s “Arsenic and Adobo,” a crime novel centered on Lila Macapagal, the prime suspect who must find the real killer to clear her name and get the resto reopened. The charming book is the first in the author’s “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery Series.” The sequel, “Homicide and Halo-Halo,” is out February 2022. Harry Monzon–In 2018, Monzon became the first winner of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) Wordless Picture Book Prize. He recalled how his experience making it through Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana) in 2016 provided him with the material for his winning entry, “Pagkatapos ng Unos.” At the Frankfurt Book Fair, PBBY learned that the book had been selected by the International Youth Library for inclusion in the White Raven 2021 catalogue, available in 38 languages and 54 countries. Kate Osias–She won first prize for Short Story in English at the last Palanca Awards (2019). Osias is working on a follow-up to her first collection, “Heroes, Villains, and Other Women,” that was published in 2018. Manuel L. Quezon III–He’s one of the most widely read political columnists of this paper, but Quezon’s gift is his knowledge of history, his eye for the pieces falling into place, and a sense of clarity that he’s able to share with readers. That’s why he deserves to be called “The Explainer,” the title of his old show on ANC and now of his newsletter and podcast. In this mad election season, Quezon is a must-read. Kevin Eric Raymundo–The writer-artist better known as
“Some Days You Can’t Save Them All” “Tarantadong Kalbo” is unafraid to be nostalgic or silly. He has also served notice that he will not be silenced, especially with his two bestselling collections still being discovered by a growing audience. Maria Ressa–We know her of course as the embattled head of Rappler and the first Filipino to win the Nobel Peace Prize. But before all these, Ressa’s books, 2004’s “Seeds of Terror” and 2013’s “From Bin Laden to Facebook,” earned her a place in the long-read department as well. Her most controversial book yet arrives in April 2022, with a foreword by lawyer Amal Clooney. The title? “How to Stand up to a Dictator.” Albert Samaha–The 32-yearold Fil-Am Samaha is an “inequality editor” at BuzzFeed News. One of his books has been adapted into the Netflix football documentary series “We Are: The Brooklyn Saints.” But it is also his sprawling nonfiction opus “Concepcion: An Immigrant Family’s Fortunes” that puts him on this list. Through the prism of history, Samaha shows how his family nurtured the dream of moving the entire clan to California, only to see it crash-landing onto American realities. Edgar Calabia Samar–The author of the Janus Silang adventure series for young adult readers has done something unexpected. He finished the hero’s story with the release of the fourth book, “Si Janus Silang at ang Hiwagang may Dalawang Mukha.” So what’s next for this fan favorite? In 2018, ABS-CBN acquired the rights to the Janus Silang novels, so an on-screen return is still possible. Budjette Tan–Together with cocreator Kajo Baldisimo, Tan has done what was thought to be near impossible: create an original komiks that would be a bestseller both in
Jia Tolentino–The best of the Fil-Am diaspora progeny, Tolentino was a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her debut essay collection, “Trick Mirror,” draws from an arsenal of often painful personal experiences as she tackles the internet, being a contestant on a reality TV show, the concept of “optimizing” one’s life, literary heroines, drugs, American scams, campus rape, “the difficult woman” and her issues with marriage. Jay E. Tria–Perhaps the best product of Esguerra’s #romanceclass, Tria’s novels may be short but they are sleek. The “Playlist” series may be her best work yet, especially for those into rock music and its offstage dramas. It shows she has the chops for different story lines and settings, and can finish with the same polish. Eliza Victoria–Fictionist Victoria is into mythic themes explored and presented in compact packages. Two of her books—the novel “Wounded Little Gods” and the graphic novel “After Lambana,” (illustrated by Melvin Malonzo)— are getting a foreign release through Tuttle Publishing. Julius Villanueva–He’s the writer and artist behind “Ella Arcangel,” which is about a young mambabarang (witch) doing her mightiest to protect her home and her two cats from danger. The series is unlike anything currently out there and will soon be turned into an animated feature film thanks to a grant from the Film Development Council of the Philippines. Jessica Zafra–You know how all these bloggers and writers sound all snarky? Well, Zafra was the first to do it in her iconic “Twisted” column more than two decades ago. And she did it better and actually knew what she was talking about. With the release of “Twisted: 25th Anniversary Edition,” today’s readers can see who started it all. INQ
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Jobless and hospitalized, beloved bar manager asks Inquirer for help By Pam Pastor @turbochicken In August 2020, the Inquirer published an article about the closure of Route 196—one of the many casualties of the pandemic. The unpretentious bar along Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, was a favorite of many as it was more than just a place for live music, drinks and delicious pizza. It was an OPM (Original Pilipino Music) landmark. For so many bands and musicians in the country, it was home. Welcoming everyone to that home was Amador “Madz” Ofalsa, Route 196’s tireless manager and head of the staff. He was loved by everyone, from the bar regulars to the bands that played there, and for good reason—Ofalsa was a consistent, friendly presence who always made sure that everyone who went to Route 196 had a good time. When news of the bar shutting down started to spread, many of the tributes posted online mentioned him, unanimous in gratitude and praise: “Si Kuya Madz talaga ang pinakamami-miss ko sa Route.” “Ang galing niya mag-alaga sa amin.” “Sir Madz, I love you forever.” “Madz MVP.” “Salamat, Kuya Madz.” Surgery What they didn’t know was that Ofalsa struggled in the weeks and months after Route 196 shut its doors. We found out because Ofalsa reached out to us in January 2021 to ask for help.
He was hospitalized at Romel Cruz Hospital in Malolos City, Bulacan province, until Jan. 10. His first hospital bill was over P94,000. His second was P54,000. “This is already my second trip to the hospital and I’m now deep in debt,” he told the Inquirer in Filipino. As we communicated with him over Messenger, Madz was at home in Bulacan, still recovering. He described the long surgical scar on his abdomen, how it was still hurting and limiting his movement. His bills continued piling up because of checkups and medications he needed to take. “I need help for my treatment and other expenses. I hope you’ll understand, for I know you’re also affected by the current crisis,” Madz said.
When news of the bar shutting down started to spread, many of the tributes posted online mentioned Amador ‘Madz’ Ofalsa, unanimous in gratitude and praise
LOVED BY MANY In August 2021, Inquirer Super shared the story of the then ailing Amador “Madz” Ofalsa, drawing a stream of prayers, well-wishes and much-needed financial assistance for his medical treatment.
The closure of the bar meant that Ofalsa, a father to seven kids, lost his means of supporting his family. And that’s not all. In December 2020, just two
days before New Year’s Eve, he was hospitalized. He underwent an appendectomy and hernia surgery the next day. He spent New Year’s
Day in the hospital and was sent home on Jan. 2. But his medical troubles weren’t over. In another surgery, doctors removed parts of his intestines.
Breadwinner As the family breadwinner, he wasn’t used to being jobless or heavily indebted. But now he was troubled not only by the day’s mounting medical bills but also by his dimming prospects of finding a new job: “How long will I be like this? I’m worried for my children. It’s really hard. I need to get back on my feet.” Inquirer Super published a story about Ofalsa on Jan. 24. That very morning, he sent a message, thanking the paper profusely “for the very beautiful article you did for me ... God bless po!” Inquirer readers, Route 196 regulars, musicians and event producers saw the article and were moved. Some of them took
photos of the newspaper page and shared them on Facebook— and started sending money through Ofalsa’s wife’s bank account and his son’s GCash account. Messages of thanks Throughout that first day, Ofalsa kept sending thankful messages: “Such a great help; what a feeling.” “I really appreciate this. I didn’t know this many people love me.” But it wasn’t just the money. He also received a lot of messages and prayers for his fast recovery. It all moved him to tears. Later, singer-songwriter Jensen Gomez held a livestream event to raise funds for Ofalsa. The well-wishes continued in the days that followed, both from the friends he made at Route 196 and from Inquirer readers who learned about his story for the first time. Today, almost a year after the surgery, Ofalsa has recovered completely and is doing well. Again, in a recent message, he recalled how he was so broke at the time he went under the knife: “Sa totoo lang wala talaga ako pagkukunan.” But because of the response to the Inquirer story, Ofalsa said, “I was able to pay for everything and solve my financial problems.” “Thank you so much to those [who] helped and prayed for me. I didn’t expect [that] you would be so many. This is all because of you.” INQ
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THURSDAY / DECEMBER 9, 2021 WWW.INQUIRER.NET
DATELINE: TOKYO (OR HOW GOING MULTIMEDIA FEELS LIKE GOLD) FROM K1 Diaz and Naranjo’s show of confidence was no empty boast. It was based on a deliberate, masterful preparation that produced stunning results while at training camp. “She [was] hitting [personal records] at this late stage in her career,” Naranjo told Inquirer’s SportsIQ, a video-format product aired on YouTube and Facebook. “This was unheard of in the last how many years.” When Diaz finally bagged the gold medal on July 26 by outmuscling—and outsmarting—the Chinese record holder Liao Qiuyun, she was actually into unfamiliar territory: She tried 127 kilograms in her final clean and jerk attempt, a weight she had never lifted before. Unprecedented showcase But her story wasn’t the only one carried across all Inquirer platforms. The paper believed that the Tokyo Games would be one for the ages—not just because of the first gold medal won by the Philippines but because it would be an unprecedented showcase of Filipino resilience and excellence in various disciplines. Diaz, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Carlos Yulo, golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Yuka Saso, boxers Eumir Marcial, Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam—it was a cast of sporting talents of a caliber never before reached in the country’s long history of Olympic quests. And the Inquirer deemed it fit to present their story as com-
FOR SOCMED SPECTATORS The Inquirer Sports Facebook page curated links to the top multimedia stories from or about the OIympics, foreign or local.
prehensively as possible. On print, Inquirer produced long-form stories that provided context and detail from behind the scenes, as well as in-depth human interest stories. These newspaper offerings were carried into the InquirerPlus app. Inquirer.net, meanwhile, provided breaking news and real-time updates through a special page created for the Tokyo Games, which also offered explainers, features and videos. Weekly quiz The Inquirer Sports’ Facebook page curated links for the top multimedia stories from or about the Olympics, foreign and local. Its Twitter account—
@INQUIRERSports—offered story links and excerpts, plus live updates and photos of the competitions as they unfold. Both social accounts also produced infographics and animated readables. On YouTube were microdocumentaries about the Filipino Olympians, other Summer Games features and readable videos. In the Inquirer Sports Viber community, followers are alerted to breaking news, the newest photos and videos straight from the Olympic venues—and a weekly quiz about the Tokyo Games. From being a weekly, the Inquirer Sports newsletter, The Stands, was upgraded into a
daily offering also owing to the richness and pace of the paper’s Olympic coverage. The sports desk also partnered with PumaPodcast’s “Teka Teka” show for more insightful conversations about the Games. Inquirer Golf, meanwhile, went on a special mission to tail Saso and Pagdanganan as they challenged the world’s best. Shattered stereotypes The effort was worth it. Apart from Diaz’s historic gold, the Philippines also produced spectacular performances in boxing: Petecio and Paalam brought home silver medals, while Marcial finished with a bronze. Like Diaz, all three fighters instantly became profiles of
STORIES BEHIND THE SCOREBOARD As an added layer to its Olympics coverage, Inquirer Sports partnered with PumaPodcast’s “Teka Teka” series for more insightful exchanges, recaps, projections and permutations. spunk in the face of adversity, and the paper was there to paint the heroic profiles. Even the members of Team Philippines who did not win medals provided stories that would be retold for a long time, if only because they shattered Filipino stereotypes and ended the era of the country’s athletes settling for nothing but a hope and a prayer when campaigning in the world’s grandest stage. Diaz said it best when she explained what her gold medal truly meant: “[T]hat the Filipino can do it.”
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Filipinos can be more than just people known for their resilience, for bending without breaking just to survive the storm. They can refuse to take no for an answer when, as Obiena put it, they “believe they are doing the right thing.” They have every right to aim high and not be coy about chasing golden dreams. For Diaz, that was the story of Team Philippines at the Tokyo Olympics. A story the Inquirer, on its varied platforms, proudly told. INQ
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